#like i didn’t even mention jason but there were parts of his characterization in lost days that i didn’t get at all either

[romanticizingmurder]

The Absurdly Long Jason Comics Post

This is all personal! I’m not claiming what’s canon or not and I’m not the final judge for anything - this is just what I like and what I don’t! Also this generally isn’t talking about the overall quality of the comics and the writing unless I specifically mention it, just how I feel about Jason in them. So....recs and unrecs, I guess, under the cut! I mostly just cover the well known ones, maybe one day I’ll do the less well known or really short ones.

Foundations:

These are what I personally view as the base of Jason characterization, this is the basics of what I’m going to use to gauge future characterization and where I get some fundamental character characteristics from. 

Robin Years (Detective Comics #568-#582, Batman #408-#426, The Cult) 

Robin Jason is the bedrock foundation of all Jason for me. When I think about post-resurrection characterizations of him, my primary concern is “Does this make sense as a progression from Robin Jason? Is this a person he could concievably become after x event?” If the answer is no? I’m out! 

Important character takeaways for me here are: Violently upset by abuse, strong desire to punish people who hurt women, experience with an addict mother, a father who turned to crime, and himself turning to theft to survive, very empathetic.

Under the Red Hood

🎵the boy is back in town 🎵

Bruce’s characterization here is shaky

narratively, this story is gorgeous. this is a greek tragedy in a comic.

the scene where he beats the joker is the most pure and cathartic expression of a victim’s rage i’ve ever seen. this is a comic about coming back from trauma screaming and vicious and demanding blood.

that said? the things he does here can be rough to square with his later character developments and i do think parts of this are best just accepted as a thing that happened that won’t ever be addressed because they decided they didn’t want to go with that character direction.

A-Listers

These are things outside of what I consider foundational that I think are Excellent.

Lost Days

This doesn't get put in foundational because it actually came out 5 years after UTRH but it's one of my favorite Jason comics. I wrote a whole post on how I think this tackles the subject of Jason & killing better than any other comic.

Task Force Z:

I went into TFZ knowing nothing about it except the concept and expected it to be awful and instead it became my favorite Jason characterization of recent comics.

I'm really grateful that Rosenberg is pushing back against the narrative that Jason died being reckless and is presenting Jason as competent and highly skilled - which he should be! The idea that *any* former Robin wouldn't be an excellent detective and fighter is just absurd, even if we don't take Jason's own history into account.

That I said really strongly dislike having Jason say he wants to do better than just street vigilante work. I think I don't mind the idea they were going for here? Like I think they were trying to echo Jason's frustration at how cyclical and futile all their work is? But it's worded So poorly and I think Jason should always fiercely love Gotham, the city that made him and killed him and brought him back.

Jason as a smart fighter! Built like a tank but agile as a gymnast and smart as hell, that's my man.

He chokes someone with his thighs, what more do you want?

Robin 80th Anniversary Special

Fun fact this is actually my hands down favorite thing written about Jason ever.

The way Robin Jay and current Jason are tied together. The melancholy fondness, Bruce and Jason loving each other but there still being a gulf between them.

It's very short, I don't have a lot to say, it's just quiet and fragile snapshot of two people who love each other deeply, even after all this time and all this pain and a distance that seems insurmountable.

RHATO Rebirth 1-11ish

Look. Lobdell is an awful writer and horrible person. He is a sexual predator and it does show in his writing of women.

Most of RHATO is garbage and not even the fun kind. The early issues of rebirth are, somehow, genuinely good despite all that.

Jason showing his love for Gotham! Jason being caring and gentle with Bizzaro! Jason's immediate ride or die loyalty (some fatal flaws continue even after death, huh, Jay?). Jason having severe and vivid flashbacks and hallucinations of his death and himself as Robin!

Also the premise of the initial arc of this one makes more sense to me as something Jason might do than most other outlaw plots, like Jason knows Black Mask is planning something and is worried about it - that makes sense for Red Hood to investigate. Jason is actually showing....concern for his city, which is a good thing. 

B-listers:

WFA

The thing about WFA, for me, is you cannot go into it expecting normal comics characterization.

I view WFA as like the comics where everyone gets turned into kids. You know going in this is meant to be lighthearted and will remain so even at the cost of characterization.

And honestly? I don't think it does that bad of a job. This isn't my Jason but this is a person I could see Jason becoming if the world had been kinder to him and the other bats.

C-listers:

Titan Tower

My view of this issue is very negatively influenced by how it has Raven trash Robin Jason as “always wanting to be the best” in the same issue after the attack, when Jason’s time in the Titans in canon was him being incredibly empathetic and mature for his age, and actually admitting that he was too young to lead them when Donna tried to make him. 

The thing about it is I don't think "Jason being an ass to Tim" is ooc it's just this specific bizarre situation? Why does Jason suddenly care about Tim, specifically, when all his anger has been at Bruce before this? 

The most out of character thing here though is that they gave his Robin costume pants. I know my man is brave enough to rock the scaly panties again.

Brothers in Blood

I think my hottest take in this post is putting this one higher than "no" but like hear me out!

I really like that this shows Jason and Dick both saving each other and despite everything genuinely have some? Strange bond? And it think it's cute.

I also appreciate how differently Dick reacts to Jason killing and I think this is one of the more realistic reactions he could have. He doesn't try to engage Jason about the actual killing as much as it's effects - Jason killed a kidnapper in front of a child, probably traumatizing her, and he's damaged Nightwing's reputation and Dick is rightfully pissed about it.

Speaking of. Why is he dressed as Nightwing. Did he get a two for one costume deal when he was commissioning his adult sized robin one? There's never a good answer given for this one. Even if he didn't want to bring back Red Hood as his persona at the time, surely they don't expect us to believe he's so uncreative he can't think up a temporary identity. If he was actually shown to *want* to ruin Dick's reputation, that might be a reason. But he doesn't seem to hold any ill will towards Dick here so it's just ????

Even worse, though, is that he makes some creepy comments to Cheyenne. That's something I find unforgivable in a Jason characterization. Make him mean, make him cruel, make him a callous asshole - but nothing about his Robin years shows us a boy who would grow up to be disrespectful of women. Robin Jason would punch this Jason.

Seriously though why the tentacles.

RHATO (nu52)

Kori we're gonna get you out of there

I do like the little flashback of sick Jason staying home with Bruce. That’s it.

RHATO rebirth 12ish-end

I know everyone focuses on how brutal Bruce is with his son in #25, and that's absolutely fair, but frankly I think this is just beyond the pale for what Bruce should or would do to *anyone* in this situation like I think even movie and game Bruces would look at him here and say he's being a bit much.

We aren't touching that weird abuse apologism Willis storyline with a 10ft pole.

Urban Legends: Cheer

I would honestly take a villainous and his own code of ethics breaking but competent Jason over this dumb brute shit Zdarsky feeds us.

Jason killing while emotional I can believe. Jason "took over a crime empire and bought out part of WE at 18 and fresh from the grave" Todd suddenly unable to track down a drug without harassing addicts I cannot.

Jason is a good detective. Jason is someone who plans things meticulously. This is not Jason.

What is with the Robin Jason and guns flashback. Does Zdarsky think guns operate using some sort of psychological curse upon their user, and Jason was infected and became obsessed? I can only assume that because otherwise there's no reason for this section.

10 year old Jason apparently murdering someone? Does Zdarsky walk around poor areas worrying about getting merced by traumatized grade schoolers?

Jason works as an interesting character because he should be presenting and embodying an actual moral conundrum but the morals in this storyline are so vapid and shallow that Zdarsky can't actually have a well written Jason.

The plot makes no sense because the kid couldn't have gone home with his father either way so making it into "but now he's Jason's responsibility" is SILLY okay okay deep breaths I'm done

NO:

These are comics I will under no circumstance consider as in character. I don't count them as canon. I don't take them into account when I write meta. They may as well not exist to me.

Battle for the Cowl

This is a just travesty for everyone involved, not only Jason. Jason going on a murderous rampage. Jason shoots Damian. Bad for everyone, bad for Jason, terrible story, let's all pretend this was a fever dream.

Hey at least Jason is presented as relatively skilled though.

Robin Vol. 2 

Jason "no selling to kids or you go in the duffel bag" "killed his teacher for using child soldiers" Todd is going to condone using the "child gangs" of Gotham? No. Absolutely not. Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done.

Batman & Robin (Morrison)

Why is his hair red. Why would he try to kill Dick or Damian. Why would he poison the prison's food supply. What's with the helmet. Why does he strip Dick & Damian. Winnick tries to salvage the last two issues with him in this run but there was nothing to save in this hideous ooc mess. If I thought this was what Jason was like, I wouldn't like him either.

The idea of Bruce making Jason dye his hair just to get a blonde and a girl Robin later is a hilarious concept though like maybe I’d become a mass murdering maniac too if I found out I did all that and he just let it drop later. 

#jason todd #comics rec

[jostenneil]

i’m genuinely confused by people who think talia’s portrayal in the last issue of the lost days isn’t a direct product of racist writing and reducing her to a pawn in the narrative between jason and bruce (and even ra’s). like who comes out of that issue thinking there’s anything realistic about ra’s conveniently dying off the page so talia can retaliate against bruce by sleeping with someone whom she’s been looking over as a pseudo mother figure for the entire run before that. i don’t care that winick explains it away by saying that talia and jason are fucked up people so that’s why they do it. talia has had her share of grievances with bruce before but she doesn’t use them to retaliate against him, and there were even inconsistencies with how she was characterized in lost days as a whole—hardly reacting to jason mentioning a sex trafficker or other criminals she used to be loudly critical of in her original portrayals, ra’s saying she was caring for jason to get bruce to love her back when bruce’s love for her is never something she’s doubted bc she knows their obstacles are largely circumstantial—so it’s not like people (or at least me lol) are just picking the one issue to have a problem with. i like the potential the lost days sets up for a dynamic between talia and jason bc with regards to bruce there’s a lot that they can relate to each other on. but it’s shitty that some people think it can’t be explored just bc of that one issue that sought to mischaracterize and render her into a predator when it was entirely unrealistic for her as a person regardless of whatever issues she had with bruce. what kind of entitlement is it to tell someone they can’t pick and choose what canon to accept when racist writing is something present across a lot of a character’s portrayal? there’s not a huge amount of liberty available to cleanly accept entire runs or events as acceptable portrayals of characters of color. ofc we have to pick and choose even within runs themselves bc that’s how shitty white writers are

#talia al ghul #dc #mine:media analysis #like i’m sorry but what a load of crap 😭 #not everyone runs with the potential of a dynamic just bc the run itself is flawless or something #like honestly lost days as a story is flawed in a lot of ways #but the premise of a dynamic between them is interesting and deserves to be explored! #esp by someone who doesn’t make a mockery of their characters #like i didn’t even mention jason but there were parts of his characterization in lost days that i didn’t get at all either #esp in the last issue #it felt completely antithetical to everything he’d been built up as when he was robin #and yeah i Get that pit madness could contribute to erratic behavior #but erratic behavior doesn’t magically erase your core values? #and jason’s core values have always centered on keeping people from harm #even if it means taking the killing route #he’s a very empathetic person that’s what makes the whole struggle with bruce difficult bc it’s two sides of empathy fighting each other #but anyway yeah i’m not listening to a bunch of asinine white people #tell me what i can’t pick and choose from a run for a character victim to racist writing #like please fuck off 😭

[stxleslyds]

Also, the writers' failure to understand, every crime Jason committed had a motive. Attack other criminals? Holy warrior destined to purify the world of evil. Attack Bruce? Joker's still alive. (Oh, Jason, it's much worse than that.) Attack Tim? A parody of what he once was. He wasn't just a "bad boy". He was dangerously insane.

Hi, Anon! Yup, there seems to be a lot of things that writers have gotten confused about Jason Todd/Red Hood and the biggest one is his motivations to kill certain criminals.

Let’s be honest, Judd Winick set a golden path for the upcoming Red Hood writers. But each and every writer that used Red Hood in their stories completely missed the point of Jason’s character. All of them. It’s so incredibly wild to me that every other writer read UtRH and came up with whichever version of Jason they came up with.

Let’s list the writers that completely missed the point.

Geoff Johns in Teen Titans vol.3 #29.

Geoff Johns was one of the first to completely mischaracterize Jason, why on earth would Jason go to the Titans Tower to beat up Tim? This is not me saying that Jason would never do that because Jason thinks of Tim as his brother or a friend or the person that he can trust the most from the Bat-Clan (can you believe Lobdell tried to sell us that one?), this is me saying that Jason wouldn’t have done that because he couldn’t have given less of a fuck about Tim’s existence.

When Jason found out that Bruce had another Robin he wasn’t bothered by his “replacement” he was mad at Bruce for having another child playing hero after he lost his life as a fifteen-year-old. Jason didn’t even think of Tim as his replacement as fandom likes to make us believe, Jason called Tim “pretender”. And that was that, but to go from minimal recognition to go out of his way to beat him up at Titans Tower is a massive mischaracterization.

Paul Dini in Countdown (to Final Crisis).

Paul Dini in Countdown did absolutely nothing with Jason, I am sorry but that’s all he did. Him writing Jason was like watching a dog trying to catch their own tail. He started with a pretty basic take on UtRH Jason, then he added a bit of Jason being an annoying man with Donna, then we had the jealousy arc because apparently, Jason had the hots for Donna but she didn’t want anything to do with him and he was all angsty when she paid attention to Kyle instead of him, and then, later on, he had that whole Red Robin bullshit (I am sorry about this, but I absolutely hated that, it was so dumb, I am so glad it didn’t last long because it was just too bad), and after all that mix of just not interesting stuff he went right back to the Jason that he had at the very start. It was a waste of time, but I guess that he had to be there because he was an anomaly and all that. I just think that was DC’s first try at making Jason Todd/Red Hood something more than just a street-level vigilante and they failed miserably.

Tony S. Daniel in Batman: Battle for the Cowl.

Even though the first two did make mistakes with Jason’s characterizations, this man was the first to just throw UtRH out of the window and make up his very own version of Jason Todd. And his version was horrendous, that Jason had no problem with attempting to kill children and innocent people, he also really wanted to be Batman because Gotham needed a Batman and he wanted to be the person to wear the Cowl and he was looking for a Robin for himself.

I know, the whole concept is the perfect opposite of what Jason Todd and Red Hood were in UtRH. Every aspect of BftC Jason is based on nothing.

Jason wanting to be Batman because Gotham needed Batman is just the beginning of what’s wrong in this book. Jason became the Red Hood (in part) because he believed that Batman and his ways weren’t what Gotham needed so he made a better version of Batman with Red Hood (according to him) because Red Hood did what Batman refused to do. Another thing that is just wrong is Jason wanting, Damian, Tim or Dick to be his Robin, there is just so much wrong with this, first of all, Jason wanted Batman to stop having Robin because child soldiers ran the risk of dying at a very young age and that’s exactly how he saw the whole thing because that was what had happened to him. Second, if Jason was mad at Bruce for getting another Robin why would he now want one of his own to team up with his Batman? Damian was a child, Tim was someone that apparently Jason hated (because Jason beating Tim was mentioned in this event), and then Jason actually asked Dick Grayson, Nightwing, to be his Robin? Listen, there is no way that was Jason, nothing about him makes sense, even taking into account that Jason had beaten Tim already in this event Jason actually tried to kill both Tim and Damian (it might have been just one of them but yeah, it still doesn’t make sense).

I just don’t think that Tony S. Daniel knew who Jason Todd was, maybe he got confused but the thing is, his “villainous” and deranged version of Jason Todd allowed a villainous and deranged version of Red Hood to happen with the next writer that I will be talking about.

Grant Morrison in Batman and Robin vol.1 #3-6.

This was the birth of the villainous, deranged and bloodthirsty Red Hood. There is absolutely no trace of UtRH Jason here, not even if we are looking at the opposite of things like we could do with Daniel’s Jason. Grant Morrison wanted Dick and Damian to have a villain to match their Batman and Robin and they decided to give us a red-haired-pill-headed-red hood. Everything from Morrison’s characterization of Jason is crazy, from the red hair (hello pre-crisis) to the awful Joker’s Red Hood looking suit, everything was just weird.

I still don’t believe that was Jason, to be honest, I would rather think that version of Jason was actually a rouge Skrull that came all the way from the Marvel Universe and lost his way in Gotham City. Maybe when he made the jump between universes, he got too much information and got confused and took the form of the wonkiest Jason Todd he could come up with.

This Jason was absolutely deranged, he knew exactly what he was doing and he didn’t care if innocents died. This Jason was the one that got locked up in Arkham. This is the Jason that Dick put in Arkham for Jason and everybody else’s safety.

Dick putting that Jason in Arkham wasn’t a bad thing or something that anyone can use to shit on Dick Grayson (not on this house). This Arkham was reformed and that Jason knew that if he stayed in that new Arkham he would stay away from trouble, but here is the thing, that Jason loved trouble, so he took all the tests to prove he wasn’t insane and asked to be transferred to Blackgate (where all the Red Hood’s enemies were). That Jason didn’t ask to be sent to Blackgate because the Joker was a cell away from his in Arkham, he did it so he could go on a killing spree in Blackgate (which he did when he got there).

Skrull Jason was just bloodthirsty and nothing like UtRH Jason, he had no motive other than just killing for fun or whatever. He didn’t want to protect Gotham and he couldn’t have cared less about the drug trade in Gotham. In Batman and Robin vol.1. Jason Todd was unrecognizable. And luckily, we never saw him again.

Scott Lobdell in Everything that he ever wrote about Red Hood.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Lobdell was the king of overpowering Jason, he was the one that drove Red Hood farther and farther away from his street-level vigilante status. He continuously added more to him, he was a big deal because he was meant to take down Ra’s al Ghul, he was a big deal because he was the only human to train in the All-Castle and learned to summon the All-Blades.

This Red Hood’s morals and ideals were kind of gone, there just wasn’t any kind of interest in Jason to get rid of drugs or try to control its trade in Gotham, he just had no interest in street-level threats, everything was extraordinary in both New 52 and Rebirth. If he wasn’t in space he was in some mystical land. His friends and allies became even more and more powerful, his level of power was completely off compared to the others. His personality was ever-changing and quite honestly you could barely see the Jason that he once was.

This Jason also was very inconsistent in the way that he felt towards people (obviously because Lobdell is a shitty writer), he wanted to follow Batman’s rules and was shown as someone that still had fond memories of his life with Bruce before he died but was also willing to let those memories go, to move on? Maybe? I don’t know. But he changed his mind about Bruce and following his rules or not for a very long time. Jason was also a little bitch about Dick, and he was a little bitch because he (Lobdell) never gave the reader or anyone a concrete reason as to why he hated him so much and then in Rebirth he decided that Dick wasn’t that bad. Also, Jason went from “Willis Todd, abusive husband and father that deserved to die” to “Willis Todd abusive husband and father but he sent me letters when he was in prison and Penguin had him killed so now, I really want to avenge him”. Yeah, I don’t really know why that happened and like most of Lobdell’s arcs and stuff it was never really completed or well thought out.

Lobdell’s Jason characterization was a mess for ten years and that’s the prime reason why Jason is a character with no solid background, story or future.

James Tynion IV in Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Tynion’s Jason Todd was a hero, he was like a mini Tom King Batman. Everything he did was right and there was just no way that you could bamboozle him. This Jason was able to hold to Blades that drained his soul as well as hosting the Untitled in his body (that were able to drain his soul too) and on top of all that he completed his journey of the Chosen One by making those ancient martial arts moves that he learned before he was Robin even though Talia hadn’t been able to master it yet.

Scott Snyder, Tim Seeley in Batman Eternal and Batman and Robin Eternal.

A mess, this was pure New 52 levels of bullshit and they all just wanted to push the “Batfamily” and while Dick was gone, they were trying to make Jason fill the void that Dick left in Batman events. It didn’t work at all and all they did was mess around with Jason’s characterization more.

Geoff Johns in Three Jokers.

I have talked enough about Johns’ takes on Jason Todd and Red Hood, but let me tell you something real quick, if a writer thinks that the best they can do with a character is make them give up their morals/ideals for an unrequited love interest, then they can keep that idea for themselves. Geoff Johns wrote a book that was absolutely not needed and then proceeded to butcher every characterization that he could, Three Jokers was three issues long and he managed to add more trauma to Jason’s torture, push the narrative of Jason being at fault for his own murder and make Jason’s motivations to be the Red Hood weak enough to make him want to give up his work for a woman that he barely knows (and doesn’t like him at all).

Joshua Williamson in Future State: Red Hood and Robin #5.

Now, with Williamson I have issues only when he writes Jason, not because his stories are bad, don’t get me wrong, I would have completely enjoyed FS: Red Hood if it weren’t for the completely unnecessary Rose/Jason side plot he had going on. Jason was clearly working undercover for some people that he hated working with. He had to arrest or kill “masks” (vigilantes, just like he “used” to be) for the Magistrate.

His ideas were pretty solid, Jason did the job but he never killed the masks and actively didn’t trust the Magistrate but he was working there to tear them apart from within, and that’s amazing if Williamson had given us Jason Todd/Red Hood working undercover to dismantle an organization I would have been really happy.

But that’s not all he gave us, even if I just forget about his failed attempt at giving Jason a relationship, I can still see that Williamson is the kind of writer that wants (or is just following DC) to make the “Batfamily” happen no matter how dumb and out of place it looks in comics’ canon. So, I am a little bit weary, any writer that leans too much towards making Jason and Bruce work together and become a family makes me want to scream, but I do understand that is just me, many people want those two to be buddy-buddy, I, personally, would love to see Jason kick Bruce in the balls and tell him to lose his number.

Chip Zdarsky in Urban Legends: Cheer.

Ah, yes, I remember the days in which I thought that this could have been something good. Well, I was utterly wrong and I suffered all the way through this mini. I feel like now I can safely say that Zdarsky only wanted to write a Batman book but DC told him, “Hey you can write Batman but it has to be within a Red Hood story, but don’t worry, you don’t have to know much about the Hood guy, just come up with something and write Batman around that”.

I know that’s what happened because I read that story and all we got from it was horrible characterizations for pre-Robin Jason, Robin Jason, Jason Todd and Red Hood. I don’t know how he did it but yes, he managed to mess it all up.

From Jason not really wanting to be Robin and acting recklessly every step of the way, to secret desires of a perfect family with Bruce and so many other people that he couldn’t care about, Urban Legends: Cheer is the perfect book to avoid at all costs if you believe that the concept of “Batfamily” is the biggest lie, DC is trying to profit off this time around.

Zdarsky also nerfed Jason in ways that I thought DC only wanted to nerf Dick Grayson. But I was able to see that I was wrong. Zdarsky’s run also pushed some of the most disastrous narratives that DC really wants readers to believe like: Robin Jason wasn’t good at his job, he was too reckless and ultimately his death was his own fault. Yay! I want to cry!

I will give Zdarsky two points for at the very least showing that Red Hood wants to protect children and that he has a huge issue with how the drug trade is controlled and abused in Gotham City, it had been a while since we had seen that aspect of Jason’s Red Hood make an appearance.

-

It’s just too many writers completely missing the point of Red Hood’s character or simply writers agreeing to destroy Jason’s uniqueness in the DC Universe so DC (as the publisher) can further push the abomination that is the “Batfamily” in comics’ canon.

I do agree with you Anon when you say that Jason isn’t just a “bad boy” but I also don’t think that we can call UtRH Jason “dangerously insane”. Personally, I will only use that last description for BftC and Batman and Robin Jason, those two were dangerously insane indeed.

UtRH Jason was very meticulous in who he wanted dead and who got to live. He entered Gotham’s most dangerous world and he had to make a big entrance, he invited the eight most prosperous street dealers to a meeting, showed up with the decapitated heads of each of their right-hand men and an AK-47 and said:

“I am offering you a deal. I will be running the drug trade from now on. You will go about your business as usual. You will kick up forty percent to me. That is a much better deal than the Black Mask will give you. In return, you will have total protection from both the Black Mask and Batman. The catch? You stay away from kids and schoolyards. No dealing to children, got it? If you do, you’re dead.”

This was Red Hood! Red Hood wanted to control the drug trade in Gotham because he knew that Gotham is far too corrupt and filled with drug lords for him to just want to eradicate drugs from Gotham. If he had tried that he would have been a dumbass, but he wasn’t. He didn’t want to start a gang war and get innocent people killed because of it, he wanted to set the rules of his new Empire and he had to start with the street-level drug dealers, from there he grew until he became a major pain in Black Mask’s ass.

We went from Jason wanting to control the drug trade and take over Gotham’s underworld so people like Black mask couldn’t have people work for him (or being dependent on him) when they were still in high school or were in a vulnerable position, to Jason fighting a war for a mystic land because he was their “Chosen One”. DC really wanted to do something grand (yet boring) with Jason instead of sticking to a street-level vigilante that could have become a Drug Lord to control the drug trade of a city that is so filled with crime and corruption that it can’t be saved by anyone.

Batman doesn’t eradicate crime, he “controls” it, puts a blank it over it, lets it nap up until it wakes up once more to make more mess.

Red Hood had other plans, certain criminals didn’t get to nap, or, better said, they would get to nap forever.

So, no. I wouldn’t call that “dangerously insane”, I will call that “vigilante that believes himself judge, jury and executioner” of a city that is drowning in crime and corruption.

Anyway, I hope you have a really nice week Anon and thank you so much for sending me this ask!

#jason todd #red hood #under the red hood #red hood and the outlaws #dc comics #future state red hood #three jokers #bftc #asksss

[julia-drusilla-xii]

- What if Caligula defeated Apollo and became the new sun god?

- What if Nero managed to convince Meg in betraying Apollo once again?

- What if Commodus managed to destroy the Waystation?

- What if the Triumvirate won the battle against Apollo?

I got extremely carried away since I've thought about this for a long time. Everythings under the cut not only because it turned out to be long, but also so I can warn you that it gets pretty dark.

Caligula defeating Apollo

Medea successfully took Apollo's immortal essence.

With her fancy spellwork, Caligula now has the combined powers of Apollo and Helios.

Ave, Neos Helios!

And history repeats itself- the Triumvirate goes to civil war.

Commodus allies with Caligula

Python switches sides from Nero to Caligula

There was a scene in the book where Python was all "if there's a new sun in the west-" to Nero and that basically implied Python would no longer support Nero if Caligula succeeded.

New Rome would've fallen, either the same way as it did in Tyrant's Tomb or by the sheer power of Caligula and Commodus' army, money, weaponry, you name it (bc tbf they could've won if Rick didn't hold back). And possibly sooner than in the books unless Caligula still wants to slow his arrival and drink his Shirley Temple.

Any survivors are now on Caligula's side.

Meanwhile, Nero's desperate although he's hiding that desperation as much as he can.

Meg's no longer in control of Apollo and MIA over in California.

But, she has the Meliai.

Nero knows the reason Meg and her father ended up in New York. Because Caligula burned their home down. Because of how her father was working on something important and powerful, Caligula viewed that as a threat. He probably knew about the seeds and what they were, same as Caligula.

And Caligula knows that Nero knows.

Meg McCaffrey is the one who can change the odds, even slightly.

Realistically, she'd never want to go back to Nero or help Caligula. But Nero might be able to talk her into his side. She could equally decide to help Camp Half-Blood.

Caligula, Medea, Commodus, Python vs Nero vs CHB

Assuming Caligula is in control of Herophile, Harpocrates, and the Oracle of Cumae, then not only does he still have the power of prophecy but also the communications are still down for the demigods.

No matter how you want to dice it, Caligula wins overall by the sheer amount of power and resources on his side.

What would stop him from ordering to kill Meg on sight, simply firing an onager at camp (and it working bc Octavian isn't there to catapult himself to the sky), and winning against a full-fledged fight against Nero?

Maybe the gods but that's on if they decide to work with Camp Half-Blood to begin with. Rick's characterization via reactions on Apollo's return makes them iffy, but I'd really like to believe they at have a heart for their children, Jason, and Apollo. They stand a good chance if they side together in the end and it shows they actually learned the message of not letting the kids do all the work and appreciating them.

Maybe even the Waystation could help, provided that Commodus doesn't destroy them first.

If Caligula won, then it's just taking out Commodus and Python if he wants sole power.

If he lost, then there's a lot of mourning, the numbers of survivors are small, but there's a new appreciation and a better environment for the demigods.

Meg betraying Apollo

At any point in the series, Nero could have convinced her to betray Apollo but the two more likely times are in the Dark Prophecy- before she escaped to find Apollo and at the end of the book when after everything they've been through together all it took was being back in Nero's environment to get her back into being his pawn.

And as Apollo mentions multiple times in the series, Meg has the power to command him to kill himself. So, it wouldn't end well for Apollo.

If it were the first one, then it would be less emotional and painful on both parties, but it would still hurt.

The only person on Apollo's side from the beginning turned out to be a traitor. He'd have support from his children, but that doesn't change how she helped him.

The only escape from Nero that Meg had was no longer beside her and there was enough convincing to happen to convince Meg it was for the better.

Apollo still has a chance of restoring his immortality, especially if Lityerses became his companion in replacement so Apollo's not alone.

Meg would just be out to get him throughout his trials.

If it were towards the end, it would be more emotional.

Both lose their friend, ally, and their greatest supporter.

Domino effect to Nero's favor. Camp Half-Blood falls first. The rest of New Rome and the Waystation is next. Possibly Olympus if he wanted to go that far but if he doesn't want to push his luck then he still is powerful and the Olympians might be content that at least they are still standing.

Nero gets a swifter rise to power because Caligula and Commodus are already eliminated and Nero has their combined powers.

And Python rules from a backseat.

Ave imperator! Ave Caesar!

Commodus destroys the Waystation

Unlike before, Commodus has proven he could be a threat.

Especially if Apollo never got the chance to blind him.

There isn't much seen with him being someone who plans ahead and willing to just fight without the flashiness so I'm not entirely sure if being the sole ruler is in his favor.

He does, however, turn the tides in either Caligula or Nero's favor depending on who he decided to support. He still is part of the Triumvirate with wealth and resources, regardless of his want to provide a show and have fun.

If he sided with Caligula, then after the demigods and Nero are taken care of, Commodus would be next on Caligula's list.

Same if he sided with Nero.

The only real chance Commodus has of winning big is if he destroyed the Waystation before Apollo destroyed the oracle and if Commodus manages to capture Apollo first.

Apollo and Commodus seem to both at least remember how they were before Apollo drowned him.

Maybe manipulation via that way?

Either way, I can't say much for Commodus so this one's shorter than the rest. I can see anything happening, from him achieving co-emperor at best to still losing everything at worst.

Triumvirate vs Apollo

This one entirely depends on which battle.

Assuming that all the three emperors are alive, then the story changes at the latest in the Tyrant's Tomb. Specifically, Caligula and Commodus are actually still alive despite Frank's sacrifice.

And they show up at the end, weak, but alive.

Because unless you count that picture Rachel got of them in a penthouse that was blurry, there was never a scene where all of them were together which isn't fair. Then again, Rick was the one who invented overpowered emperors in the series so that was probably a conscious decision to make it easier for Apollo.

The soonest would be immediately after The Hidden Oracle, where Nero could supply help to Commodus since he would know that would be Apollo and Meg's destination.

This one would be short because this is an equally open-ended question.

But if they actually helped each other first, things don't look good for Apollo or the demigods.

They might spare the demigods for the specific purpose of ruling over them.

If they continued to share their victory, then their empire is still split three ways.

If they decided to go all civil war, then as the first two triumvirates of Roman history went, the weakest go down first and the main two hash it over a lot of battles.

Caligula would still have Medea, so he has the means of magic.

And Nero would still have Python. Tbh, not sure if that snake even has powers of prophecy. But either way, Python was Nero's ally from the beginning.

I'd say the only thing stopping the triumvirate from complete control is once again, Olympus itself.

Especially if Meg's alive and inspires everyone to avenge Jason and Apollo.

Bonus~

Caligula as the sole emperor includes paranoia that someone betrays him since he was originally killed by his own guards. He might be able to rule the people as well as he did when he first became emperor (back in ancient Rome, the first few months of his rule he was well-loved until he became ill). If anything else, you can count on the yachts being his palace. Incitatus might be by his side because they might part ways since Incitatus wants horses to rule the world in the books. Caligula might renovate New Rome to his liking and upgrade it with his personal wealth.

Commodus as sole emperor involves Commodianapolis and a football stadium where he can host games. A lot of wealth being poured into grandeur, parties, and Commodus' name and likeness everywhere.

Nero as sole emperor means the Imperial Household is there to stay. From what I gather, there are twelve children to replace the twelve Olympians. I don't they're exactly all are children/legacies, but I could be wrong. Either way, Nero has them to help him enforce the rules. He has his tower and he's conveniently near Olympus and Camp Half-blood. He could decide to expand in Manhattan and Long Island.

#these were all scenarios I thought about when the books were released #great minds think alike #not sure if this is what you wanted but hope you liked this anyways #tw mention of death #tw mention of suicide #trials of apollo #caligula trials of apollo #neos helios #nero trials of apollo #commodus trials of apollo #meg mccaffrey #lester papadopoulos #python

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Rewatching the HP and FB movies

I have a tradition of rewatching HP movies at least once a year. This year, I added the two FB movies as well. I know lots of people have well deserved issues with a lot of thing with the franchise and I do too, but I still thoroughly enjoy the movies. All of them. Certainly there are some big issues I have, like how Kloves treated Ron starting from GOF onwards, and how Hermione kind of became a mary sue, and definitely some of the things that were added or removed, like the removal of some of the Riddle memories in HBP, removing the pretty fascinating Dumbledore backstory in Deathly Hallows, the silly inconsistencies like polyjuice not changing the voice of the characters etc... But in general, I still think the movies did a great job capturing the spirit of the books and the casting was just incredible. Especially the adult casting. I know we have only seen one version of Harry Potter on the big screen, but I envision these actors, especially the adults, when I’m reading the books now. Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltraine, Mark Williams, Julie Walters etc... are now the faces I see when I think of those characters. Richard Harris was a terrific Dumbledore for the first two movies, where he had more of grandfatherly, twinkling, vibe. I know people are critical of Gambon in GOF and he admittedly did get the characterization wrong, but I feel he was excellent in POA, OOTP, and especially HBP. Alan Rickman was just so outstanding in the role of Snape. I genuinely feel he should have gotten some Oscar consideration for his performance in DH2. But he was incredible even when he had only a few scenes and had to be super dry in his dialogue delivery. Maggie Smith was similarly wonderful. But these were just the adult regulars, but equally incredible were the phenomenal actors who came for just a few films. There are so many. Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Imelda Staunton, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent etc... among many others. A lot of these actors only had a film or two where they had a significant presence, but they showed up in cameos in other films, particularly in DH2. I have a lot of respect for the casting directors for this franchise since they cast basically half of all of British’s well respected acting thespians. Even someone like Bill Nighy appeared, just for two scenes in DH1. Rhys Ifans came in DH1 and was terrific in the two scenes he was in. Ciaran Hinds also was in just one or two scenes and he was also very good. And all these actors felt like they gave it their all and that it wasn’t just a paycheck role.

When it comes to child casting, what strikes me is the amazing continuity the series kept. Its one thing to be able to keep the core child actors like Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Tom Felton, but one of the most satisfying aspects of the series is that a lot of the core group of side characters were continuously played by the same actors. Not just Matthew Lewis and Bonnie Wright  and the Phelps brothers, but also Alfred Enoch as Dean, Devon Murray as Seamus, and Joshua Herdman as Goyle. It would be very easy to replace some of these side characters over time and no one would notice, but the continuity makes it so much more enjoyable when in DH2 Seamus helps Neville blow up a bridge based on the fact that we know Seamus from the first movie was known for blowing stuff up. Its the small things that make it so great. Possibly the most accurate bit of casting was Evana Lynch as Luna. I honestly can’t think of a single actor more perfectly cast in the series than her. The core quartet were all lovely. Not always consistent, but more than good enough. I actually think Dan was the weakest actor when the series started, but he made remarkable improvement in the back half of the series, especially OOTP onwards. He is outstanding in DH2 I thought. Tom Felton didn’t always have to do much until HBP, but he was excellent in HBP. He does seem to have been stereotyped a little in the other roles I’ve seen him in but it still means he was great. Emma Watson’s performance fluctuated a bit. She was very good as a kid, then she was kind of bad in GOF and in parts of OOTP, but she found her footing again in HBP and especially in DH1, which I still consider to be her best acting performance to date. I think Rupert was always the most natural actor of the lot. He was probably the most hard done by the Kloves because they kind of typecast him as the comedic sidekick, but I can’t fault Rupert because he was a pretty gifted comic. Like Emma, when he got more scope in DH1, he did an incredible job. I would say Bonnie Wright is maybe the only one who didn’t fully grow into the role for me. It probably has a lot to do with writing, but she also really didn’t share any chemistry with Dan which made that relationship feel pretty flat and forced. But all in all the casting really made these movies and they elevate the movies significantly. But I admit all the craft behind it. Also, some of these movies are close to two decades old and the effects hold up quite well. I think there are scenes in the first movie that look a little dated, particularly the flying scenes, but subsequent movies seemed to find the right blend of practical and visual effects to make the movies look pretty timeless. 

I think all the directors did their job really well. Columbus did a good job of bringing the childlike wonder of the initial books to life, Cuaron brought his more adult quality as the kids grew up, Newell ramped up the scale and the scope, and Yates managed to bring home the darkness. Definitely the films weren’t flawless. Like I mentioned before, there were times when some characterizations were off, some key subplots were eliminated or not handled well, some things added which were not needed etc... but the spirit of the books remains. I have a deep fondness for the movies as I feel I grew up with them as I am basically the same age as all the main child actors in the movie so I grew up and watched them grow up. So while they aren’t in the league of greatest films of all time, but its a remarkably consistent and enjoyable franchise that lasted an entire decade.

When it comes to Fantastic Beasts series, I was excited that Yates and Rowling were developing something new but I also feared what would happen given they didn’t have the structure of a book series to guide them. The fears ended up being fairly valid. The first FB is a pretty enjoyable film. I do think they did a good job creating a likable quartet of main characters and the actors all did a pretty remarkable job. It was also a refreshing change to watch Magical World from an adult POV as well as experiencing a new location and time period as well. The issue with the first film is that the film has two separate storylines which don’t really merge well together. The story of Newt, Jacob, Tina, and Queenie finding and recapturing the suitcase of magical creatures is actually very charming. The film does a nice job of creating some unique magical creatures and adding something new to the Magical World, but then there is a dark and gloomy second plot which doesn’t work as well because it essentially isn’t much of a story other than just showing Credence being abused and manipulated time and time again until the climax. It neither merges well tonally, nor plot wise. The way they try to put Newt at the center of the climax felt very clumsy and unearned. Overall, the first film still has sufficient enjoyable charm and I certainly like Redmayne, Waterston, Fogol, and Sudol. Farrell was a damn good villain. Miller was a little too mannered for my taste but I understand what he was going for. Voight is there for no reason at all in a perplexing subplot that goes nowhere. But still, more positives than negatives. FB2 is where the franchise really dropped the ball for the first time and Rowling’s inexperience as a movie screenplay writer became very obvious. The film is literally a setup for future movie, designed to get characters into certain places where the real story can start. the film essentially has no plot other than a bunch of wizards across Europe are looking for Credence and Credence is searching for his identity. There is really nothing else in the movie. The movie is overpopulated with characters, and Newt ends up even more incidental in this movie since he has no interest in going after Credence himself at all for 2/3 of the movie. All the things that were good about the first movie are lost as Jacob and Queenie only share two scenes together, Tina and Newt only share the last act or so together, Newt and Jacob end up only have a couple of scenes together. Its all rather boring and dull. The performances are fine. Depp was a good enough Grindelwald but I don’t think he was given any more to do other than just be surface level evil. One of the most inspired casting decisions was Jude Law as Dumbledore. While he doesn’t ape Gambon or Harris, he does capture the twinkling spirit of Dumbledore and his scenes are the best. The film also has a rather odd plot concerning Leta Lestrange. It is simultaneously important and completely pointless at the same time. I felt that the character had a compelling backstory and interesting potential but the film barely has time to address it any sort of depth before she gets pointlessly killed off at the end. The film also does a pretty bizarre character assassination of Queenie who makes decision that I really don’t understand. I guess this all boils down to the fact that this story may have worked in Rowling’s head as a book where each character’s internal thought could have been given more depth but what happens is that pretty much every sub story is pretty unsatisfying. Its certainly not an unwatchable disaster, just rather dull and devoid of the spark that the wizarding world movies should have. I hope they can turn things around because the film leaves things at a very peculiar juncture which doesn’t make much sense based on what we know of the HP canon.

#Harry Potter #fantastic beasts #ron weasley #hermione granger #newt scamander #fantastic beats the crimes of grindelwald #fantastic beats and where to find them #harry potter films

[dyadsaber]

A New Reylo Shipper Reads the TFA Novelization Part 4: In Which I Refuse to Believe that the Han and Leia I’ve Known Since I was Eight are That Awful at Parenting or Relationships, and I Have Feelings About a Scene With Rey in a Chair

Full disclosure: I am an old fan.  I saw Star Wars for the first time in 1989 because my mom took me to see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in theaters, I thought Indy was the Best Thing Ever, and mom decided I was old enough for Star Wars, too. I was 8.  I saw Phantom Menace in theaters the month before I graduated from high school. So I’ve had ideas about what Han and Leia are like as people for the vast majority of my life. 

I have spent a lot of time and mental energy trying to wrap my brain around the way that Han and Leia and Luke act and make choices in the sequel trilogy so that I can enjoy the things that I actually LIKE about the sequels. (And I like a lot, or I wouldn’t have a Reylo blog or be writing about this novelization.) Some of it, I can come up with explanations for.  They are sad explanations, but I can get my brain to buy them instead of screaming THIS PERSON WOULD NOT DO THAT. But the way that this novelization was going to have Han and Leia talk about Ben’s fall to the Dark Side in the scene where they meet up again is NOT ONE OF THEM. 

OH YE GODS THIS MAKES ME SO ANGRY. (I’m going to swear a lot below…) 

When Han and Leia see each other again, we find out how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other… 

Husband and wife stood regarding each other for the first time in years.

YEARS? Really? My first question when I read this was, how many years? Apparently, various supplemental timelines reveal it has supposedly only been seven years since Ben turned to the Dark Side and Luke’s temple was destroyed, which means Ben was, what, twenty three when shit went down? I have issues with this as well. All of the other clues we’re given point to him being younger. This is a glaring example of “no one cared about these characters as much as the fans did and so people weren’t careful with the timeline.” 

Getting back to the issue of Han and Leia not seeing each other for… an unspecified at this point number of years, I get that what happened was traumatic. I get that it probably took a toll on their relationship, but having Han just say “screw it” and fuck off with Chewie, and Leia just… keep on keeping on has always smacked of lazy writing to me. It feels like Abrams didn’t want to have to DEAL with the messy questions about how Han and Leia would be with each other if they had STAYED TOGETHER and dealt, sometimes well, sometimes poorly, with the loss of their son.  So he was just like, “NOPE THEY SPLIT UP ISN’T IT SAD?” And it IS SAD, but the Han who CAME BACK even when there was no reward in it for him, whose last words before being FROZEN IN CARBONITE were “I LOVE YOU,” and the Leia who WALKED INTO JABBA’S PALACE TO GET HIM BACK would not be like this.  I can see them trying to work through their grief together, and then Han just needing to get away for a while, or them agreeing to focus their efforts on finding their son and turn him back in the areas where they each most likely to have an effect, BUT NO. They just… split, and we don’t even get a lot of backstory about exactly how that went so we can understand the emotional arc for these characters. DUMB. I CALL BULLSHIT. 

And speaking of HORSESHIT CHARACTER ASSASSINATIONS…. Here’s some extra stuff Han says that wasn’t on screen. 

“He’s gone, Leia. He was always drawn to the dark side. There was nothing we could’ve done to stop it, no matter how hard we tried.”

This is longer than what he says on screen. His line here in the film is “We lost our son. Forever.” And the longer version pisses me off SO MUCH. How would HAN know he was always drawn to the Dark Side, unless Luke and Leia were TELLING HIM that’s what was happening? (Possible, but this doesn’t read like Han reminding Leia of things she told him already, and I don’t like what that theory says about Luke and Leia making Han afraid of his own kid.) 

I know on-screen Han says something about “even Luke couldn’t help him,” the stuff about THERE IS NOTHING WE COULD HAVE DONE just makes me FURIOUS. Is this supposed to be COMFORTING to Leia? Like, “Well, we did our best and it’s not our fault he turned because that was always gonna happen”?  WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK. Han is not that much of a fatalist.  He tries to tell himself that Ben is gone for good NOW, which is understandable, but “there’s NOTHING WE COULD HAVE DONE IT WAS ALWAYS HOPELESS?” No. Get out of my house if you’re talking that level of shit about Han. 

And then there’s THIS CRAP ABOUT LEIA, AND I’M GONNA BLOW A GASKET LOOKING AT ALL OF THIS AGAIN. 

So, when Leia says “it was Snoke” in the film, Han doesn’t react much, and to me, that scene on screen reads like Leia is reminding Han of something they both already know, but in the novel, she apparently… just… never mentioned Snoke to Han, and she KNEW ABOUT HIM ALL ALONG? 

“Snoke?” She nodded. “He knew our child would be strong with the Force. That he was born with equal potential for good or evil.” “You knew this from the beginning? Why didn’t you tell me?” She sighed. “Many reasons. I was hoping that I was wrong, that it wasn’t true. I hoped I could sway him, turn him away from the dark side, without having to involve you.” A small smile appeared. “You had—you have—wonderful qualities, Han, but patience and understanding were never among them. I was afraid that your reactions would only drive him farther to the dark side. I thought I could shield him from Snoke’s influence and you from what was happening.” Her voice dropped. “It’s clear now that I was wrong. Whether your involvement would have made a difference, we’ll never know.”

So you are telling me that LEIA FUCKING ORGANA had a CHILD with a man (and married him? Are the new canon ones even married? Does it even matter? IT DOES TO ME.) and then hid a REALLY IMPORTANT FACT ABOUT THEIR SON from that man because she thought… Han was too impatient? And she thought he wouldn’t be able to handle it and would make it worse? And so she just… hid it from both of them and tried to deal with it on her own? The more I think about this, the angrier it makes me.  

One of the things I love about Star Wars is how much we get to see characters leaning on each other, both physically and metaphorically, and being part of a team that supports each other.  It’s one of the reasons I hate the way that the sequels separate people and have characters that have spent their whole arcs looking for connection ending up on screen alone at the end. (I know Rey’s not staying on Tattooine, but the fact that the last time we see her, she’s by herself was a choice that makes me mad.) ANYWAY… The idea of Leia deciding she has to struggle with this BY HERSELF (and maybe with Luke? Who even knows?) and ON PURPOSE cutting Han out of the loop entirely is just… stunningly out of character. It’s another one of those writing decisions that makes for good angst and terrible characterization if you know ANYTHING about Leia, in my opinion. 

And I refuse to believe that this next line is anything other than a need for this information to be gotten across to the audience in an extra clear way.  This is Han’s response to all of the above, I think. 

He had trouble believing what he was hearing. “So Snoke was watching our son.”

So this confirms it. THIS is DEFINITELY the first time Leia even MENTIONS Snoke manipulating their kid to Han. The implication here is that after Ben turned, Leia let Han roam around the galaxy for seven years,  BY HIMSELF, NOT KNOWING THAT THEIR KID HAD BEEN FUCKED WITH BY AN EVIL DESSICATED PICKLE? SHE LET HIM KEEP THINKING THAT BEN’S TURN WAS JUST BECAUSE THERE WAS SOMETHING INNATELY WRONG WITH BEN AND NOTHING MORE? DUMB. Canon not accepted.

I need to go watch this scene in TFA, with all of its flaws, to cleanse my brain of this stupidity. 

Oh… one last thing that is not nearly so rage inducing, but gets to one of the things that annoys me about the prequels. (This is a little later when Han is leaving.) 

He put his hands on her shoulders, and thirty years fell away in an instant. “Leia, there’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you for a long time.” Fighting to hold back tears, she put a finger to his lips. “Tell me when you get back.”

On the one hand this is kind of sweet, but on the other LET HAN SAY I LOVE YOU, ABRAMS YOU TEASE.  Let Leia say “I know.”  You LOVE cheap callbacks to the original trilogy, and this wouldn’t have even been a cheap callback because it would have made sense for the moment and the characters. I would have bought it. I would have paid a high price for it.  I’m tired of characters not telling each other things (FINN IN THE LAST MOVIE OMG).  I know it’s a way to up the tension, but it just reads as lazy writing here to me, especially now that I know that this is the last time we get to see them speak to each other, and there’s really no REASON she shouldn’t let him say it. 

And now… some feelings about Rey in a chair. 

First, let’s get this out of the way… What Kylo Ren does here is NOT GOOD. Like, “this made me remember all the reasons I was so resistant to shipping them” levels of not good. But then I remembered that I’ve been fangirling over REALLY TERRIBLE PEOPLE since Jason Isaacs stepped on screen in The Patriot in theaters (Go look it up. I’m really old, ok?), and I ship pairings that hurt each other WAY more permanently than Rey and Ben do, and I got over my misgivings.  (Half of one of my OTPs canonically killed the other half in a fit of anger, and she STAYED DEAD. I still ship them because this was a stupid writing decision.)

What I think is so eerily fascinating about this whole scene, both on the page and on screen, is how… weirdly direct and honest Kylo is the whole time. And it’s not just honesty (but I’m going to scream about that a lot), it’s… how careful (for him) he is with her. 

So I knew this was going to be a ride of a scene when the very first time he talks from Rey’s PoV, we get… 

“In Kylo Ren’s voice there was unexpected gentleness.”

Was it also understanding and tall? (That will never stop being funny to me… sorry.) 

And THEN, when she asks about her friends, he’s like (paraphrasing here) “Well I COULD tell you they all died…” 

“But I would prefer to be honest with you from the beginning. You will be relieved to hear that as far as their current status and well-being is concerned—I have no idea.”

This matters a lot to me.  And it solidified my belief that he THOUGHT he was telling her the truth about her parents in TLJ when he said they were “nothing” and that they abandoned her.  He MUST have been acting on an incorrect assumption that he arrogantly assumed was true because, that this is the important bit, he never knowingly lies to her...  I really wish that honesty line had made it into the film. 

And the fact that he thinks RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING that this is going to be the beginning of an ongoing relationship where he would even CARE about establishing trust… just makes me laugh at the presumption on his part, but also makes me want to be like, “Ok, so you’re kind of right but also hilariously wrong because this is NOT GOING TO GO HOW YOU THINK.” Mostly I just enjoy simmering in the dramatic irony of it all. 

And then he takes his mask off because Rey called him a creature in a mask, and that probably hurt his feelings or something.

 “In itself the narrow face that looked back at her was not remarkable. It was almost sensitive.”

And this is where I became even more convinced that… maybe casting hadn’t happened for all the parts yet?  But ADF had descriptions of types they were looking for? Because if there’s one thing that Adam’s face is pretty much ALL THE TIME, it’s sensitive (and holy crud expressive).  No almost. 

Also, if Adam had been cast, this bit: 

“If not for the intensity of his gaze, Ren could have passed for someone she might have met on the dust streets of Niima Outpost.” 

Would have read more like: “If not for the intensity of his gaze, his ridiculously good looking hair that probably took a whole team of stylist droids to maintain, and the fact that he was tall as a tauntaun, he might have passed for someone on the street.” But I digress. 

So this next line of his is from a really awful moment that should not have made me smile.  But… he’s not even angry, here. He’s just exasperated, and that fight on the Death Star they have in TRoS made this extra amusing. (Not that anyone who’s read this far is going to be on my case about this, but I know how problematic that line is! I know how problematic this whole scene is! Not an uncritical consumer of media here, just having fun reading with a shippy lens!) 

When she maintained her silence, he almost sighed. “I can take whatever I want.”

The old " Well, I guess we're doing this the hard way" sigh. I can SEE IT. 

And then, one of those unique to the novel lines that I somehow didn’t know about before reading the book that just STOPPED ME IN MY TRACKS when I got to it. 

“I would have preferred to avoid this. Despite what you may believe, it gives me no pleasure. I will go as easily as possible—but I will take what I need.”

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS. I mean on the one hand, have a “not as much of a jerk as you could have been” gold star, but on the other hand, for KYLO “I HAVE A TEMPER AND GET WHAT I WANT REN” to have the intention to tread carefully with her and to CARE enough about what she thinks about him that he SAYS IT? WOW.

Thank you for coming to my talk, “Kylo Ren ALWAYS Cares What Rey Thinks of Him: A Thesis Presentation by Me” 

So he tries to get into her brain again, and we get this: (I can’t tell whose PoV this supposed to be from. It’s Rey all around this point, but it doesn’t make sense that it would be her here, and ADF can’t hold a consistent point of view in this novel to save his life, so… it makes more sense to me that it’s Kylo’s PoV.)

“And hesitated. What was that? Something there. Something unexpected.”

Loneliness would not be unexpected. He wouldn’t be surprised by that. It makes sense that the original intent was this is Kylo sensing her ability to use the Force, but if there was ANY pre-planning of the bond at all, this would have been a moment where he’d be able to sense it.  (I now want to be directed to any and all articles of behind the scenes discussion of the bond and who first decided it was going to be A Thing.  Was that just Rian Johnson?) No matter what happened from a Doylist perspective here, what happened from the Watsonian perspective is that Kylo went fishing in his other half’s mind and stepped right into their one-in-a-million connection in the Force and was like, “WHAT IS THIS???”

So we’re going to skip over the part of Rey crying because that does terrible things to my soul that I don’t have words for. (I may ship Reylo now, but I loved Rey on her own from the second she stepped on screen in theaters.) 

This moment, though… this is so telling. 

“Rey—you’ve seen the map. It’s in there. And I am going to take it. Don’t be afraid.”

Geez this is so him. Frustratingly so. I see why they cut it for the flow of the scene and to make him scarier but WOW. “I’m going to do what I want, but YOU DON’T NEED TO BE AFRAID. Here let me comb through all of your insecurities and worst memories AGAINST YOUR WILL while you’re strapped to a table, ok? WHY ARE YOU SCARED?” 

Honestly, the fact that he even thinks for a second that “don’t be afraid” is going to be AT ALL HELPFUL OR EFFECTIVE in this situation just goes to show how… weirdly out touch with normal people he is. (“Ben Solo Learns How to Be a Person and Not Something Out of Nightmare” is a fic trope I will read and write forever.) 

Then there’s that “SOMETHING” again…

‘Ah, he thought to himself. Something there, of interest. Not the image of the map. That would take another moment. But definitely something worth investigating.”

WHAT IS THIS? It would be easy to say, “He’s just sensing her Force capabilities, or the bond,” again, but we’ve already seen him have that reaction.  This reads like he’s specifically sensing another MEMORY, but we don’t ever get what it WAS before she pushes back. (Probably reading too much into this, but OF COURSE I AM. I’ve written seventeen pages of reaction to this nonsense so far, and I show no signs of stopping.) Anyone want to put forward wildly speculative theories as to what it was? I’ll start: He’s very specifically sensing her memory of Ben falling to the Dark from TRoKR, and it’s drawing his attention because it’s a memory of HIM. 

And now for Round 1 of “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better.”  Rey pushes back and finds herself in Kylo’s mind. 

A look of amazement replaced the fear on Rey’s face as she discovered herself inside his mind. Stunned at the realization, she found herself inexorably drawn to—to… “You,” she heard herself saying clearly, “you’re afraid.”

DRAWN TO WHAT, ADF? To his vulnerabilities? To the place in his mind that correlates to the place in hers that he went poking at? I mean, that makes sense, an it would be instance #1 of Rey replicating what Kylo did because… he’s the example of Force use she’s GOT at this point, and it makes sense that she would be unconsciously doing what he did.  (So really… he accidentally taught her a lot… just saying.) 

And finally,  just kind of love this description of caught-flat-footed Kylo Ren: 

“In the corridor, a stunned Ren found that he was breathing hard. That in itself was unsettling. He did not know what had just transpired in the holding cell and, not knowing, was left uncertain how to proceed.” 

She… raised my breathing rate? I’m???? Having??? A??? Feeling????? Or wait have I been having a feeling this WHOLE TIME AND SHE JUST POKED IT???? WHAT IS GOING ON??? What do I DOOOOOO????? Oh good a stormtrooper needs to talk to me. Time to NOT THINK ABOUT ANY OF WHAT JUST HAPPENED FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.  

Rey clearly had the one brain cell the dyad shares between them for this scene, and for a long time after. 

That was WAY longer than I meant it to be, but… thanks for reading! I’d love to know what people think.  I feel like I walked into a party late and want to talk about ALL THE THINGS people were screaming at five years ago. 

#reylo #dyadsaber text posts #tfa novelization #the force awakens novelization

[thecomicsnexus]

BATMAN: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY BATMAN #426-429 DECEMBER 1988 - JANUARY 1989 BY JIM STARLIN, JIM APARO, MIKE DECARLO, ADRIENNE ROY, MIKE MIGNOLA, ANTHONY TOLLIN AND OVER 10,000 PHONE CALLS.

Jason Todd finds out his biological mother may still be alive and he discovers there are three possible women that could be his mother. He then decides to meet each other to find out which one is the one. But at the same time, the Joker escapes Arkham and decides to make some quick money by dealing with terrorists. Both missions will collide into each other and change Batman’s life forever.

SCORE: 8

This story was a big deal when it came out, and for Batman fans, it still is. But it has been cheapened by DC’s decision to bring the character back from the dead. I assume this is not spoiler, as it is in the covers.

I will talk more about the plot in the spoiler section. I feel like in general there is a lot of lazy writing in this story. I think the idea was good, but there are many things in the story that didn’t need to be this way. I would have just removed everything about the middle east, and I would also tried to find an alternative to yet another “diplomatic immunity” plot.

Jim Aparo did his usual iconic style here, but that also means that many characters look too much alike, which is a shame. Especially when Jason doesn’t really look like a teenager.

So, something I can discuss outside of the spoiler section, is the whole gimmick of this story. The phone number vote.

From Wikipedia:

Jason Todd, the second character to take the Robin persona, was introduced in Batman #357 (March 1983). He was initially depicted with a personality and origin identical to that of predecessor Dick Grayson. However, the history-altering events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Batman: Year One allowed editor Dennis O'Neil, writer Max Allan Collins, and artist Chris Warner to revise his backstory and personality. The changes caused Todd to grow increasingly unpopular with fans during this period; unlike the cheery and optimistic Grayson, this new characterization of Todd was depicted as foul-mouthed, impulsive, and bad-tempered.

Aware of Todd's unpopularity, O'Neil and writer Jim Starlin began discussing ways to retire the character, and before long, began to consider killing him altogether. During an editorial retreat, O'Neil recalled the success of a 1982 segment of Saturday Night Live, in which Eddie Murphy encouraged viewers to call the show if they wanted him to boil Larry the Lobster on air. O'Neil proposed a similar idea involving Todd to publisher Jenette Kahn, who liked the idea. O'Neil would later state:

We didn't want to waste it on anything minor. Whether Firestorm's boots should be red or yellow ... This had to be important. Life or death stuff.

— Dennis O'Neil

On the back of Batman #427, an advertisement was run featuring Batman carrying a severely wounded Robin. In the ad, readers were warned that Robin would die of his injuries "because the Joker wants revenge", but that they could "prevent it with a telephone call". Two 900 numbers were given: one (1-[phone]) which would let Robin live, and another (1-[phone]) which would cause him to die. The numbers were active for 36 hours, beginning on September 15, 1988, at 8 A.M. EST and ending on September 16, 1988, at 8 P.M. EST. Readers were charged 50 cents per call. Approximately 10,614 votes were cast during this period. When tallied, the final results were extremely narrow, with 5,343 votes in favor of Jason's death over 5,271 for his survival—a margin of just 72 votes. O'Neil would later admit to having voted in Todd's favor, as he felt that Batman was incomplete without Robin and feared killing Todd would lead to backlash.

"A Death in the Family" was written by Starlin. The artwork was illustrated by Jim Aparo, inked by Mike DeCarlo, and colored by Adrienne Roy. John Costanza handled the lettering, and Mike Mignola designed each issue's cover. The four-part story line began in Batman #426 (December 1988), and concluded in Batman #429 (January 1989). Two versions of issue #428 were prepared: one that would be used if readers voted in favor of Todd's survival, and another to be used if he was to be killed; the latter version ended up being used. The story line was later collected in trade paperback and hardcover form as Batman: A Death in the Family after its conclusion.

When it was first released, "A Death in the Family" generated massive media coverage and backlash over the decision to kill Robin, a beloved comic book character and pop icon. Newspapers such as USA Today and Reuters published articles about it, the latter of which would state that "a group of comic book artists and writers has succeeded in doing what the most fiendish minds of the century... have failed to accomplish". Frank Miller, author of The Dark Knight Returns (1986), was highly critical of the story, describing the "toll-free" number voting as "the most cynical thing [DC] has ever done". O'Neil and his team were caught off-guard by the amount of attention the story drew; according to him, it lasted four straight days, and was unlike anything the team had previously experienced. The story line was a bestseller in both the standard single-issue and trade paperback format.

In retrospect, Hilary Goldstein of IGN called "A Death in the Family" one of the best Batman graphic novels ever written. He described the story as "worth the price of admission", and considered letting readers vote on Todd's fate to be one of DC's strongest decisions. Both Goldstein and NPR contributor Glen Weldon agreed with the choice of killing Todd, as both felt the character was poorly developed and inferior to Grayson. Screen Rant praised Aparo's cover for the collected version, describing it as "iconic" and perfect for showing such a grim, sad moment.

From DC in the 80s:

For Batman, we did Death in the Family -- which was their best-selling book that year -- but it turns out they had all these licensing (pajamas, lunch boxes, and stuff like that) and the licensing department was very mad, everybody got mad, and they needed somebody to blame -- so I got blamed. And within 3 months all of my work dried up - Jim Starlin

Spoilers after the break...

So one of the reason I say there was too much lazy writing in this story, has to do with all the coincidences. The Joker just happens to be in the same places as two of the possible mothers. And not only that, Joker even knew Sheila when she lost her license for doing abortions. I understand why Sheila betrays Jason (she was also taking money from the poor in Ethiopia and didn’t want any problems with the law), but it was never explained how the Joker and Sheila knew each other.

There goes mother of the year!

To be honest, while Jason’s death was brutal, I always felt it was the right thing. Being Robin was child endangerment, Starlin was right in that. But it also seems like Jason magically became Robin, without much thought to it. I tolerate the pre-crisis version more than this one, but the people to blame for how he ended up being... are Max Allan Collins and Jim Starlin.

There were two versions of issue #428, and the material ended up being used for Batman Annual #25 (Infinite Crisis tie-in... more lazy writing, by the way).

But to me the idea of using diplomatic immunity once again was ridiculous, and just the idea that the Joker would become ambassador and kill everyone in the council... while representing Iran... is also quite stupid, because it would be considered an act of war on all other countries.

There is also another idea happening in the last issue. That the Joker knows who Batman is. This would make sense as it was too much of a coincidence that Jason died in that same explosion (Batman even mentions Jason to the Joker). The issue may have been edited to remove all references from the Joker that he knows who Batman is, you can read more about it here.

Both Joker and Robin would drop off the radar for an entire year, a year that was quite important for the Joker, as the Batman Motion Picture created bat-mania around the world. In fact, I am lying, the Robin concept wouldn’t take long to start resurfacing (in just a few months we would have Batman: Year Three). But the consequences of this story were felt for years, until people at DC started basically publishing fan fiction, with reality-punching Superboy prime.

If I had to vote, I would vote for Jason to die. Mostly because I know now, how much potential him dying gave to the batman and robin mythos. Having that dead Robin there is a reminder that what they do is dangerous and has no place for amateurs. I wouldn’t vote for Jason to die again now, as it wouldn’t mean a thing. Like death in comics.

#mike mignola #jason todd #robin #batman #joker #superman #dc comics #comics #review #1988 #1989 #modern age #a death in the family #jim aparo

[thesffcorner]

Aquaman

Aquaman is directed by James Wan and it’s the adaptation of the eponymous DC comics superhero. It follows Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), the son of Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) and a lighthouse keeper (Temuera Morrison), as he is sought out by Princess Mera (Amber Heard) to stop his half-brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson) from plunging Atlantis and the surface world into war.

For this review, I want to switch things up, so instead of my usual rundown of the worldbuilding, plot and characters I want to talk about the different aspects of the filmmaking, because where this film rises and falls are exactly these elements. So let’s start with what the film does really right which is the

Direction:

James Wan as a director is better knows for his horror work, with films such as Dead Silence, Insidious, the Conjuring, and Saw; to date he has only directed one other action film, Furious 7. I was already impressed with his work there, especially in the fight scenes and big action set pieces, but his directorial skill is on a whole other level here, helped greatly by the excellent visual effects and character and environment design. Atlantis as well as its various inhabitants are a perfect mix of ancient and futuristic, and alien and human, making the time we spend underwater visually stunning.

There are so many incredibly creative and clever shots, especially the transitions between establishing shots and the rest of the scene, as well as fluidity of the action scenes. Likewise, Wan’s horror roots come through here and there, in the way he introduces the villains and explosions with jump scares, and a specific, genuinely creepy set piece on the open ocean in the darkness.

As superhero films tend to, there are several gigantic set piece battles, with lots of CGI creatures and monsters, and Wan manages to keep the action legible, dynamic and intense, without it being confusing. Some parts had issues with the compositing being slightly off which made it apparent we are looking at a green screen, but overall the direction and visual design of the film was its strongest part. I can spend hours just talking about all the tricks and clever camerawork Wan and DP Don Burgess use, but I realize you no one wants to read that; suffice it to say, I think this was visually DC’s boldest and best executed DC film to date, and I was very pleased with Wan’s work.

Story and Screenplay:

Strangely enough, this is where the film both excelled and failed for me. Let me explain.

I really enjoyed Arthur’s arc throughout the film, as well as the overall plot of him and Mera trying to prevent a war between Atlantis and the surface world, The film surprisingly manages to fit a lot of history and major storylines from Aquaman’s comic runs, and it manages to pull this off without making it’s story jumbled or the pacing uneven.

However, how the film actually delivers this story is where the problems start. There is a real issue with the dialogue in this film; character tell the audience exactly what they are thinking and feeling, they will often stop the scene to exposit on their emotions and motivations, which is in addition to the already dense scenes of characters delivering the history of Atlantis to each other (even though rightfully there would be no need for Orm, Vulko or Nereus to explain to each other who these historical/mythical people are or why they act the ways they do since you know, they are all Atlantean). Vulko is the guiltiest party here, because his entire character is just there to deliver exposition.

Case in point, the dynamic between Orm and Arthur. Arthur has spent his entire life hating Atlantis and blaming himself for his mother’s death, and feeling like he doesn’t belong on land or in the sea. On the other hand, Orm has spent his entire life also blaming Arthur for their mother’s death while also living in constant paranoia that should Arthur ever come to Atlantis, as firstborn he would take the throne (also clearly has some issues with who Atlanna loved more,  but that’s neither here nor there). That’s some rich characterization and emotion. You know how the film delivers it? By literary having Orm and Arthur say all of this, in more or less these exact words, to each other instead of showing us any of it. 

The dialogue varies between bad and extremely bad, and it’s such a shame because the story and the characters are there. I hate to compare the two, but Black Panther also had a scene where to estranged cousins vying for the throne, one of whom resents the other interact, and it did much better with showing us all the complex emotions these people were going through rather than bluntly telling us exactly what they think.  

Characters (and their actors):

The issues with the screenplay and dialogue unfortunately feed into the characters. While some of the actors do fine with the stiff dialogue, some… not so much.

Let’s start with the supporting cast. I loved Nicole Kidman as Queen Atlanna. Her role was small, but she does so much with the limited screen time, and gives Atlanna a full range of emotions and character arc. I also appreciated that the film does a reverse ‘women in refrigerators’ with her.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was excellent as Black Manta. His backstory was intense and perfectly understandable, and I really enjoyed that the film makes it pretty clear that the existence of Black Manta is solely Aquaman’s fault. The two don’t get too much time to interact, but Mateen steals every scene he’s in, and I’m interested to see what they do with him next.

As I mentioned Vulko was the designated exposition character. Willem Dafoe dioes fine with the role he’s given, though I have to wonder why he didn’t try harder to dissuade Orm from his conquest, since clearly the two are close. It almost makes me wonder if Vulko blamed Orm for what happened to Atlanna which doesn’t make much sense since he was a teenager at most. 

I was genuinely surprised to see Dolph Lundgren in this and though King Nereus didn’t play a hugely important part in this film, just like with Black Mantha he seems like he’d be a more important player in a future film. I’m just always happy to see him be in films honestly.

From our leading trio, Amber Heard was the biggest surprise. She’s pretty good in the role as Mera, and she’s helped by a really solid characterization. Mera was well written, competent and powerful, she was on equal footing with Arthur the whole film. Not once is she treated like a damsel and at no point does Arthur have to save her, or she needs  to teach him how to be a King or fight or anything similar; she is just that committed to doing the right thing, even if it means sacrificing everything she’d ever known (though I would have preferred the film show us this rather than just having her state it).

 The biggest issue with Mera was the romance. Bless Heard, she’s really trying, but she and Momoa just have no chemistry.  She has more chemistry in her one scene with Patrick Wilson, where she’s supposed to hate him, than in all the scenes she has with Momoa combined. There is also no real transition from “I hate this man but I must help him for the good of my people” to “I will sacrifice everything for him”; she just kind of thinks he’s a loser one moment and then loves him the next.

Patrick Wilson for me was the best part of this film. He is such a good actor that he makes this character so much more sympathetic and interesting than I think the filmmakers ever intended him on being. Orm is a rather blindsided hateful person, but Wilson manages to give him pathos and a sense of paranoia that builds with the amount of people that turn on him. He has a lot of issues to work through and were it not for Wilson’s acting, I’m not sure how much that would show in the film. The scene where he’s reunited with Atlanna was the best scene in the film, and you can clearly tell who the two best actors are in this film, because Kidman and Wilson sell it. 

Jason Momoa was perfectly fine, but rarely rose above that. He has the physique and charm for the role, and when he’s playing Justice League Aquaman he is a joy to watch. Part of it is an issue with the writing, because the film can’t really decide if we are following a seasoned, experienced, jaded Aquaman who is willing to let people die just because they annoyed him, or someone who is still learning how to deal with the responsibilities of his powers. This version of Arthur is lost, afraid and insecure, who is forced into acting against his better nature, and Momoa just can’t pull that off. He’s too cool, too confident for the role; he’s a Han Solo, not a Luke Skywalker, and this film needs him to be the latter.

Overall, Aquaman was an entertaining, visually stunning and faithful adaptation to the comics. I had a ton of fun watching it and I highly recommend it, in spite of some dialogue and script issues. It really is what a superhero film should be; fun, action packed and very genuine.

#aquaman #film review #dc #aquaman review #moni talks

[whothefuckiscassandracain]

Post Crisis Cassandra Cain - A Summary

Well, folks, this is it – we have gone through all of Cassandra’s Post Crisis material (at least that of certain chronology)! What a ride! Now it is time to take one more look at the tag counter, before we reset everything for the New 52/Rebirth. Without further ado, here’s the final tally (with changes from the previous counter summary in brackets):

Aphasia: 88 (+16)

Living Emoji: 78 (+2)

Little Lady Of War: 53 (+13)

Batdad: 52 (+6)

Batmom: 50 (+6)

Dubious Characterization: 49 (+33)

Fast As Lightning: 45 (+3)

Fiercely Assertive Protector: 26 (+1)

Ghost Of Failures Past: 25 (+9)

Symbolism!: 24 (+6)

Creepy Bat: 24 (+8)

Cass Sass: 23 (+9)

Plight Of Permanent Perfectionism: 14

Better Off Dead: 13

Unusual mannerisms: 9

Made Of Steel: 9

Retchcon: 9 (+9)

Ballet Battler: 2

Spells ‘Team’ With An ‘I’: 2

First of all, as we can see, there were some traits to Cass’ character that can best be labelled as a case of Early Installment Weirdness and disappeared from her characterization after her defeat of Shiva.

Secondly, damn that Retchcon and Dubious Characterization counter! Late Post Crisis was really not kind to Cass, with Beechen in particular running her into the ground at every opportunity. Even just looking at it now hurts.

Thirdly, ignoring all the crappy Retchcons and Dubious Characterization, we now have a very clear picture of who Cass is. Her most defining traits remain:

Her aphasia, which resulted in her being very expressive with her body language and continued being an issue of varying degrees of severity, even after  she learned to understand spoken language. Cass does not give grand speeches and reading is a very taxing process for her, but she did improve over the course of her Post Crisis history.

Her insane combat skills (Little Lady Of War), which, combined with her very assertive style of handling problems, her insane speed, and her very tacit nature, often caused people to be at least intimidated and sometimes even downright terrified of her.

Her tendency to blame herself for past failures, whether they are people she failed to save or mistakes she made while on the job. This is especially relevant since Cass’ loyalty is not towards any one person, but towards what the bat symbol represents.

Her tendency to sass out her opponents (and sometimes allies) with what little words she uses.

Now, as for her relationship with the Batfam, the following can be said in summary:

Bruce was both a mentor and a father figure to her, from the beginning to the end, with varying degrees of heartwarming/jerkish behavior. The latter was usually a result of post Jason’s death causing Bruce to be an emotional brick and put the mission before everything else. For most of the story… Cass did not mind all too much, at least if you can ignore Beechen’s retcons, although she was still happy about her eventual adoption. That said: if you ever want to trigger the Batdad in Bruce, let someone catcall after Cass and he’ll probably break the guy’s jaw.

Barbara was essentially Cass’s mother figure and trying very hard to nurture Cass’ civilian identity, much in contrast to Bruce’s and Cassandra’s approach. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Cass established a similar, if brief, relationship with Brenda while in Blüdhaven – another redhead with a kind, but firm approach to encouraging Cass to actually live her life for her own sake. It is a crying shame that the Barb and Cass had very few interactions after War Games, but it is hardly surprising, given that DC was in the process of writing almost every single woman/girl in the Batman stories out of these stories. One thing that should be mentioned: barring that single brain fart in Birds of Prey Vol 2, Barbara has always had Cass’ back, even during times when other members of the family did not trust her.

Speaking of which: Dick Grayson. Oh boy. This relationship started relatively neutral, with Dick being very much ok with Cass in their first interaction, despite Cass’ disability and her related quirks. Then it became heartwarming on screen, with Dick quickly coming to Cassandra’s aid and making sure she was okay during the “Soul” drug storyline in Batgirl and being very upset when she let him hit her during the Bruce Wayne: Murderer? storyline, as well as off screen, since he apparently acted out all the parts of Cinderella for her at one point. Then it took a complete nose dive into the opposite direction following Cass’ asinine turn to evil, which led to Dick being openly hostile towards her and not trusting her with… well, pretty much anything. It took Alfred shouting at him to reconcile the two and while their last few interactions were of the reasonably friendly nature again, it was too little too late. What a mess.

As for Tim, he went from not trusting her during their initial interaction to gradually accepting her as a member of the family to being very supportive of her and a very good friend, especially following War Games, when the two of them worked together in Blüdhaven. In contrast to Dick, Tim was much more willing to forgive Cass for her actions during her turn to evil and maintained a good, friendly relationship with her, even after she moved to Hong Kong. He was the one who gave her the Blackbat suit and reminded her that she was family and he was also the one who worked with her the most. Last but not least, he did not put up with Damian’s bullshit about Cass in Gates of Gotham. Good job, Tim! You’ve been a very good brother to Cass.

Speaking of Damian, he had very little interaction with her and went from “she sounds wonderful” before they met to being very abrasive towards her after they met and calling her “spineless, naïve and fragile”. Honestly, it comes across very unconvincingly and much more like Damian’s bruised ego trying to defend himself from someone who does actually live up to her reputation may be legitimately better than him in certain aspects. Either way, there is not much love lost between the two of them.

Next up: Stephanie. During their first meeting, Cass was rather cold towards Stephanie, mostly because of their difference in skill level. Cass’ concern about Stephanie not being strong enough to do the job remained for a long time, but she still grew to like and respect her as a friend and partner eventually, to the point where Stephanie could arguably be called Cass’ best friend. They chatted about boys, they played rooftop tag together, they discussed important changes in their lives, such as Stephanie becoming Robin. During War Games, Cass wanted to go looking for Steph because she was worried about her and only didn’t because Bruce promised he’d do it instead. Steph’s ‘death’ hit Cassandra hard, to the point where she hallucinated Stephanie being the one to greet her and comfort her on the other side of the pearly gates during two (near)death experiences. During Convergence, Stephanie and Cass lived together for a full year, supporting each other both physically and emotionally. Stephanie is, without the doubt, the best friend Cassandra ever had.

Finally, there is Alfred (because DC were cowards and never gave us Cass & Jason). Alfred, as always, was a real treasure. At first, he merely took care of Cass’ own Batcave home and later her apartment near Gotham U as per Bruce’s request. Then he went through the trouble of finding her the perfect apartment/secret cave combination in Blüdhaven. He was shocked to hear of her supposed death and upon her return to the Batfam and her moving into Wayne Manor was quick to point out that Cass felt like she did not belong there and that they should do more to reassure her that this was really her home and her family now, with no strings attached. More than anybody else in the family, Alfred recognized the often self-destructive need Cass felt to redeem herself for past failings and it is only thanks to his intervention that Dick reconciled with Cass. In short, over time, Alfred has come to care deeply about Cass, as he does about all the children that ever fought alongside Bruce/Batman.

Last but not least, a few notable mentions about other relationships Cass had with various people:

Cassandra has a complicated relationship with her father, if you ignore Adam Beechen’s horrible retcons. For eight years, Cain was all she had, and while she recognizes that he is a horrible human being and a lousy father (she beat him into a pulp over this), she also recognizes that he does actually care about her. As a result, Cass is not friendly with him, but she is not cruel towards him either.

Her mother, Lady Shiva, barely had anything to do with her and left her in Cain’s hands an hour after Cass was born. She mainly saw Cass as a tool (someone to finally defeat her in combat and later someone to help Nyssa Raatko lead the League Of Assassins), but showed at least some motherly concern when it was believed that Cassandra had been killed and Shiva helped Tim investigate her murder.

One of the few people she was close to before operating independently as Batgirl was Leslie Thompkins. Cass has insane respect for Leslie, because of her iron pacifist nature and was deeply saddened when Leslie broke ties with her during War Games. We sadly never got to see reunite on page.

Cassandra has had a rocky relationship with Huntress, mostly because Cass is staunchly anti-killing and because Batman took the Batgirl mantle from Huntress and gave it to Cass. Mind you, Barbara never approved of Helena as Batgirl.

She got along very well with Onyx, thanks to Onyx having been with the League Of Assassins before and thus actually being a challenge for Cass, while being a genuinely good person. Sad we didn’t get to see much of these two together.

Azrael (Jean-Paul) had a crush on her, which Cass did not quite reciprocate, but she wasn’t unfriendly to him either.

The first boy she ever kissed was Connor Kent (Superboy), even though she was annoyed with his way-too-carefree nature and his focus on her physical attractiveness. They broke up amicably.

She had three more dates with guys, none of which went anywhere.

And to round off our summary, here are some nice little bits and pieces of Cass

The first words she learned were, in chronological order: (thanks - incomplete), (goodbye - incomplete), stop, no, me, shutup, what, why, stay, instinct

She was 17 years old at the time of her introduction. Her birthday is January 26th.

Her favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate.

Cass is a big and messy eater.

Her home is very untidy and while in the manor she did not customize her room at all (no pictures or other mementos).

She likes horror movies (she really enjoyed Alien).

She is probably the only person in the family who really wants to be the next Batman and actually became Batman in some timelines/alternate universes.

She likes rice krispies, Assam tea, and long showers.

Cass can’t hold her liquor.

#Cassandra Cain #master post #counter summary #Post Crisis Cass summary

[izartn]

Dunno I’ve been thinking and the last book I remember liking by RR was The Son of Neptune bc outsider pov on percy??? I’m always a sucker for those. Also the Leo and Jason parts of the first of HoO; Piper was meh, Jason a little less meh and Leo surprisingly good. But I just lost any major interest in the series with Mark of Athena; it was entertaining but it didn’t thrill me anymore. Maybe I had grown too old? But mostly I think it was so many charas saturating the plot. 

But really, The Last Olympian is such a good finale? Of course I wanted to read more of Percy and Annabeth but I was so happy when I finished it... And of course the undervalued Kane Chronicles, whose mythology and fantasy I liked even moren although the charas weren’t superior; that trilogy deserved so much more. 

The nome system, the different specializations and rituals and the way the protags are living gods at different points of the story??? the whole walt-anubis-sadie situation? and zia, omg? The romance is also wonkers in this trilogy, it’s so subtly creepy-wrong and the supernatural vibes... But like, when treated more seriously. Hello Sadie is 13 by book 2 and I completely forgot that bcs she was being romanced by a god and a 15-16 years old, and doing dangerous things and being Isis avatar, and like no way she is that age. Also, Anubis as a 5.000 years old teen is like... no, riordan. It’s still being a bit weird. I wasn’t expecting the kiss >_< You could’ve made it an interesting exploration of the mutable qualities of the egyptian gods and the lack of like, modern standards of behavior, and then go ahead with the Walt-Anubis plotline. And after PJO and seeing the results of god-human unions... Play with what it means, but for the love of god, Sadie’s age >.>

But I loved her being obsessed with Adele bcs by then I was too. XD

TW INCEST. Here I go off the rails speculating for a parragraph on ancient egypt royalty and the kanes, if you don’t want to read it, close the tab or scroll past it, it’s nothing too dark, nor it’s explicit in any case. More like the result of reading too much weird fic. 

And really that no one (no god ever) ever mentioned the practice of marrying family in egyptian dynasties to horrorize or joke a little to carter and sadie? (i know my mind is perturbed but these two see each other when? once, twice a year a bit more in the lucky ones? honestly if this was and adult or even ya and the author another it’d been an interesting conflict treated seriously. keeping canon ending pairs et all!!)  Although carter knows for sure and just hasn’t clocked in what it means they’re the blood of pharaohs. Yup your ancestors x-generation removed were into incest for purity reasons. And know you’re the incarnation of the horus-pharaoh in earth too. Enjoy! (this is like in yu-gi-oh!! fandom where we pretend the concept didn’t exist bcs too serious and creepy to be treated seriously. and like atem died at 15? 16?)

END TW

 I guess they did the whole explaining the gods have the same relationship their vessels have with each other by feels-possesion double track influence, so that one is resolved, bcs if not it’d be beyond weird that isis is both their mother and the spouse of their osiris-julius and also sadie sometimes. Like, Kane Chronicles mythology is much much older than in other RR series and it tracks with the undercurrents of the trilogy (crap under the radar i think?) and how the gods acts i think.

But you see the above clusterfuck??? If RR had aged a bit the charas, bc is not as if Sadie is a real 12-13 years old, more like a 15-16 one at minimum with how she acts and the narrative treats her, and made Carter like 18-19? Thinking about what he wants out of life and uni, etc because for him it clocks with his arc. Or even older; I think that would be have been better but then it’d be another kind of book. Make Sadie the one starting uni and Carter the one finishing his master in egyptology bcs that’s all he’s known all his life, and he’s interested in it truly, and their father is still the one who wants to reunite the three for Sadie’s birthday going with Carter in plane from whatever university he’s in (could be one in egypt Julius has ties to) and it’s then when all goes to shit.

 The conflict, the stakes... You could treat the family conflict and well, the racial aspect of the books in more profundity. Maybe make them biracial but their father is afroamerican and the mother is british but descendant from egyptian immigrants, so yup. You have that connection with the original land of the myths, and Carter and Sadie perspectives on being poc shoe the contrast btwn the sister raised by her mother parents, and the brother by the father. But that’s need much more sensitivity than RR is able of. I wouldn’t dare to write that book alone, that’s for sure. 

 As I understand it there are more than some problematic elements to RR tendency to diversify his cast without doing profound analysis and research and using sensivity readers so. I’m south european white, I don’t have a real idea of all the messes he made with Kane Chronicles so I don’t have anything more say anything more about this. But yeah, it’d been another demography completely different from the original, and would have needed another author which I think would have suited the mood I get from this trilogy even now. 

We all know the errors RR makes like doubling down on romance forever saving the day and female characterization or his well. Well-intentioned if misguided discourse? (that cursed word) I’m all for social justice, but Magnus Chase read like a pamphlet at various points instead of being organically integrated in the story (KC and HoH have sometimes that problem but in MC is really blatant) who am I going to lie, although Magnus has fascinating potential as a protag.

 And Alex chara too, plus Hearth and Blitzen. I think he made a full on queer protag quartet without realising it (which is why Blitz and Hearth are those two guys instead of confirming any status. like just besties, or qrp or budding romance, which one? we can’t have full on queer quartet) plus Samira and his poor we’ll call it that, handle of her muslim lifestyle from what I’ve seen from muslim fans reviews. (so, my idea of sadie above wouldn’t been plausible) If she’s gonna marry make her at least older than 20? After finishing uni, which I think is something you usa (noarospec) people do regularly without religion or anything? But really marriages just make me go yikes anyway so. Do away with that plot point you don’t have to follow so exactly the myths. 

And so their charas aren’t explored with profundity. Although they could have been really interesting.

 And the ending was... meh. The point was the anticlimax, but Loki was well build enough in the two first books and the third was a deception honestly. 

But again, I think I also simply aged of his books + started noticing his fails. See above my KC tangent. Curiously I think the PJO books (not HoO) are good as they are... No urge to make charas older or anything. The dysfunction is different in both stories I feel.

 I KNOW! It’s because in KC we see the magician society and it’s full of adults and seriousness so it would have fit having two older teens-young adults be the protags, exploring it properly and so Carter and Sadie being the chiefs of the Brooklyn nome and the initiators of the gods path in contemporary times wouldn’t struck me as so weird. The nome politics ;_; We were robbed. 

Compare that to the ways PJO with its ephemeral demigod lives and constant death and youth as the one who bring the necessary change for the gods (plus the absence of older demigods coming back to help in TLO, be it bcs they’re done with greek gods or they’re dead, functions really well following Percy since he’s 12 to his 16 birthday and beyond if he had managed to do the roman fussion correctly. Make it so PJO ends with Percy and Annabeth at 16 and HoO alt series, starts 4-6 years later. Because the roman camp and its senate and norms and village are more serious and imply a heavy adult-political presence, with legacies etc; because the gods are starting to forget their promises; bring up the parallels with Luke and mentions of how live has been treating both Anna and Percy. Enrich the world and make the sequel interesting to your original audience who is much older than when they started reading the PJO books. 

Well. This is a fantasy...We know RR would never ;_; Although he’s done much for young fantasy. And know I’m searching the impossible fic.

#percy jackson #kane chronicles #magnus chase #tw: incest #meta #rick riordan #PJO

[camsthisky]

Can you rec any stories?

Oh boy. You better strap in, because I have read a lot of fics. Most of these will probably be Dick Grayson centric, though, so just a fair warning. I’ve seen a couple people format fic recs like this, and I really like it. I hope it’s organized enough!

Of course, you can always go through my fic recs tag, too!

The Bonds that Tie by DawnsEternalLight Words: 59,507 (between 2 fics)Summary: A series exploring the Batfamily growing closer together.My Comments: Absolutely amazing and heart wrenching. The first fic in thisseries is finished, which is a lot more about Dick and Damian’s relationship,but the second is still ongoing, which is more about Jason and Tim. It’s a wonderfulseries!

To Pass Through This Night by DawnsEternalLightWords: 4,147Summary: When Dick was captured by the Syndicate he died, for a short period of time, but he still died. It’s a fact he kept from his closest friends and family to protect them. When Damian and Tim find out he has to face not only them, but the emotions he’s buried from the event.My Comments: It’s a forever evil fic. Like, you don’t even know how much Ilove this, especially because it involves the whole family’s feelings, not justDick’s.

Even When You’re Down by DawnsEternalLightWords: 4,628Summary: Jason is expecting pizza at his door, not a very sick Dick Grayson. When he can’t figure out what’s wrong with his brother he turns to the only person he can, Bruce.My Comments: Ahhh I love sickfics so much, and this one did not disappoint!Jason and Bruce coming together to care for Dick was amazing to read! To be honest, @preciousthingsareprecious​‘s fics are all amazing, and I’ve read so many of Dawn’s works. These are just my absolute favorites!

Stubborn by audreycritter Words: 20,359 (4/4)Summary: Dick is usually the one taking care of everyone else and he’s bad at asking for help.So bad, in fact, that he never even actually asks– but Jason shows up anyway.And then Dick returns the favor. And then they both do for Tim. And it’s just going to keep going from there.It’s probably Alfred’s fault. When your butler mom calls and says, “Go check on your brother,” you don’t argue. You just do it.My Comments: The first chapter absolutely killed me. It’s a sickfic, witheach chapter focusing on a different batkid. It’s so well written, and it’s oneof my all time favorites!

The Mechanics of a Hug by incogneat-oh Words: 4,154Summary: “So,” Tim ventures. “It's… what, a cuddle pollen?” Bruce just shrugs. “Something like that.” My Comments: It’s funny, it’s angsty, the dialogue is absolutelyamazing, and I would recommend this author’s fics (all of them, really) a thousand times over. This one is just my absolute favorite that I’ve read a bajillion times.

World’s Apart by Fernandidilly_yo Words: 37,169 (3/?)Summary: Dick’s world is falling apart. With all the heroes and Batman gone, the teen thinks this is the end, that is until Dick miraculously end up in an Alternet Universe where the world is whole and there’s a family waiting for him.My Comments: This is an AU that absolutely BREAKS MY HEART. There’s so much description and it’s such an amazing story. It has a lot of potential, and besides the occasional typos/spelling errors, it’s probably one of the best I’ve ever read. I’m looking forward to more!

Locked Away by AutumnHobbit Words: 3,021Summary: anonymous asked: would you consider writing dick being asked to empty jasons locker at school after jason dies?

“Uh, Wayne residence,” he said, cringing after the fact at how hoarse his voice sounded. He scrubbed a hand over his eyes in frustration.“Um, hello. Is, um….” the female voice trailed off hesitantly. “Is Mr. Wayne available at the moment?”“I’m afraid not,” Dick said, trying harder to channel his inner Alfred. “Can I take a message?”“…Yes,” the woman said. “It’s….well, it pertains to his son, Jason.”My Comments: THIS IS SO SAD. I still love it, because it shows a side of Dick that we don’t see often. We see Dick happy around his family, angry, frantic, but never this grieving boy mourning the loss of a brother, and it’s heartbreaking. There are a lot more quality fics by this author, as well.

there is a design, an alignment by irnanWords: 584Summary: Dick’s just had brain surgery. No wonder it hurts.My Comments: This is so sweet. But, of course, Bruce can only seem to show affection to his kids when they’re hurt or unconscious.

exactly how this grace thing works by irnanWords: 22,710Summary: Dick gets de-aged. You’d think this would be a routine thing.My Comments: Honestly, this is the fic that convinced me to stay in the fandom. It’s the fic that I will always aspire to write, quality wise. It’s an amazing piece about a de-aged Dick learning to accept the family that’s suddenly thrust onto him, and his family, in turn, learn things about him that they didn’t know before. The whole fic is amazing.

Who We Were by ZiZzyWords: 105,025 (33/?)Summary: When the Graysons fell their son went to his great-uncle to be trained as a Talon. Four years later he is rescued and taken to live at Wayne Manor. But, he is not the talkative boy he once was, in fact talking at all is a bit of a problem… A series of connected oneshots about how the Batfamily is formed when the older brother is not quite who he was meant to be.The timeline of each chapter is in the A/Ns.My Comments: It’s a little hard to get used to this fic, since most of them are read like one-shots in the same AU, but this fic destroyed me. Dick is so adorable, and he’s going through so much, and Bruce is so understanding. The last couple of chapters had me in tears.

Half Lost, Half Found by takadainmateWords: 23,632 (4/5)Summary: Driven underground, Batman fights to keep Nightwing alive. There is a fight. There’s always a fight.My Comments: I always recommend this story, but it’s amazing. There’s a lot of tension between Dick and Bruce, but they have to work together in order to survive. Sadly, this fic hasn’t been updated since 2013, but it’s only the last chapter that’s missing. It’s still a great story, even without it.

Family is a Crisis by LysicalWords: 4,172Summary: In their family there’s always some sort of crisis going on.“Probably a fashion crisis,” Jason muttered. “He probably dragged us all here so he could show off some chartreuse and fuchsia monstrosity.” “You aren’t making a new costume again, are you?” Damian added, nose wrinkling. “I thought we all agreed you were staying away from colors.”My Comments: This fic is hilarious.Seriously, as much as I wish Tim was in it, too, it is the perfect sequel to the one scene at the burger joint in Batman #16.

Grade School by KagSesshloveWords: 100,098 (13 fics)Summary:Imagine that Damian goes to a regular school full time. And has to do things that normal grade-schoolers have to do. This is his life now: pretending to be a normal 10 year old at school all for the sake of the public. But, honestly, the public would rather he not.My Comments: When I first found this fic, I think I started screaming at @stepichu to read it, too, I was so excited. I think I actually read it twice in one week? Please read this entire series. It’s hilarious and serious and just plain amazing. Sometimes the characterizations are a little exaggerated, but I still love it. It totally adds to the story! And the best part is that it was just completed!

the man with guns for eyes by 8swordWords: 22,056Summary: “Don’t blame him, little D. He gave me a choice.” “He always makes it a choice,” Damian mutters. “If you’re the one who makes the decision, it’s your fault if it’s the wrong one.” (Dick comes back from the dead.)My Comments: Hm. Okay, on the one hand I really like reading this fic, because the boys are all forced to talk to each other and try to work things out. On the other hand, sometimes this fic leaves me reeling. There’s a lot to get through in one sitting, and sometimes I have to break it up.

With Friends Like These by ChimaeraKittenWords: 4141Summary: How Artemis got to know both Dick Grayson and Robin before finding out they were the same person. My Comments: This is a YJ fic, but it’s really good. Like, I didn’t know I needed Artemis getting to know Dick Grayson so badly until I read this. There are also some other really good fics by @chimaerakitten​, but this one is one that I fell in love with.

Crowded Enough by CaraLeeWords: 18,744 (15/?)Summary: An AU built off of the titular line from the pilot episodes of Young Justice. Dick Grayson comes home from the events at CADMUS to the enjoyment of his various siblings, friends, and sibling-like people. Now extended: One chapter per episode of the first season. Plus a few extras.My Comments: I love this so much. Each chapter is gold.

Save You by ArsenicInYourPuddingWords: 6538 (4/4)Summary: The three times Wally West made sure Dick Grayson lived to fight another day, and the one time he didn’t have to.My Comments: Warnings for suicidal thoughts/actions. The bromance between Dick and Wally in this is amazing, and this fic got me through some tough times. The whole thing always has my crying by the end, no matter how many times I read it.

That’s just on ao3, and it’s getting really late, so I needed to shorten this a bit. I will say that you’re welcome to look through my bookmarks on ao3 and my story favs on ff.net if you’re looking for more. There are a lot of amazing fics out there that I didn’t mention. I probably will come back to update this sooner or later.

edit because I don’t know how I forgot these:

Interval of Shadow by CaramelMacheteWords: 41,403 (15/?)Summary: Nightwing, Robin and Red Robin take on Clayface. Nightwing does not emerge unscathed.Is this the end of Nightwing’s career? How will the rest of family react? Will Dick recover, and what should he do if he can’t?My Comments: My goodness, this fic is honest to god amazing. It shows the struggle Dick goes through and how his family scrambles to be there for him. The interactions between everyone is so spot on, and if you haven’t read this, read it. And then come scream at me or @caramelmachete about it.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by anon_nom_nomWords: 3,614Summary: Prompt from yj_anon_meme:Okay, so I always thought that the reason DCAU Dick turned into such a bitter little thing was because he only ever had Batman, and sometimes Batgirl, but he never had his Titans or his Wally or anything.So I would like so see something where Robin is starting to show early warning signs of this, maybe just frustration after a really bad night on the job in Gotham with Batman, and him actually having his team there to help him deal with it.In which Robin has a bad night, discusses poetry, and gets a massage.My Comments: This is a YJ fic that shows the struggle that Dick goes through as a partner of Batman, and I find it super realistic. It’s really fluffy with a hint of light angst, and all of the characters are spot on.

Fear by tristen84Words: 18,622 (6/6)Summary: While on a stake-out together, Robin and Kid Flash have a frightening run-in with Scarecrow. Dick-Wally friendship.My Comments: Another YJ fic. If you want Wally and Dick bromance, like, this is the fic. It’s a really good story, too, and it shows just how much both Dick and Wally care for each other. It’s a good read.

I’m probably still forgetting some, but these are all amazing, too, and please check them out!

#cam answers #anonymous #fic recs

[stxleslyds]

ROBIN #5 BUT IT’S JUST ME TALKING ABOUT JASON.

Hey, how are you guys doing? I wasn’t going to review this issue and I won’t because this isn’t really a review, this is just me talking about Jason’s involvement in this story.

I mentioned in a previous reblog (as well as in a old post) that I am not a fan of Joshua Williamson’s way of writing Jason. I think that he, like Lobdell, thinks of Jason in a way that doesn’t really match Jason’s origin (UtRH, Lost Days) or his current stories (RHatO, RHO, and other brief appearances), I think that Williamson is writing this sort of mesh between fanon Jason and a self-indulgent Jason that results in a very... bland and kinda repetitive version of Jason.

I have also talked about my dislike of his writing from a “romance” perspective. I absolutely didn’t like how he wrote the supposed “relationship” that Jason had with Rose in Future State: Red Hood. It honestly left a very nasty taste in my mouth after I read those issues and I just didn’t see their chemistry, to be honest, while I was reading those issues I felt like Williamson was writing an “unrequited love” thing between both of them (Jason being in love and Rose not at all).

That is of course my opinion. I know that many people like this relationship and I respect that but just as a heads up, I am not a fan of Jason being involved in any sort of romantic relationship with anyone. It’s just something that I would rather not see in a Red Hood story and that’s just the way I see it (once again, you are welcome to think otherwise).

Now, after I have said all that (which I believe is necessary because I like to tell you guys my general stances on Jason related stuff), I can begin my “review” of Jason’s appearances in this issue. 

Let’s begin!

Rose calling Jason to tell him about Damian.

Yeah, I find this weird. Since when are Jason and Rose talking? Here is where I am lost because I think that I am missing some information. 

This Jason right here is supposed to be the Jason that was at the end of Urban Legends #6, right? The last time that I remember Jason interaction with Rose was back in RHatO vol.1 #40, I know that Rose had a “relationship” with Jason in DCeased and in Future State (Red Hood and Gotham) but here is the thing, DCeased is a story that doesn’t belong to this or any continuities so it doesn’t count and Future State is set in the future, and a future that might never happen at that. So, where is this “Jason and Rose being in contact” thing coming from? If anyone knows, please let me know. 

Anyway, I just think that Rose contacting Dick would have made more sense but I guess I am missing some context here but hey, I am here to also learn.

The other thing I would like to talk about these panels is Jason not wanting Damian to be involved in a dangerous “death tournament”. Oh, well colour me not surprised at all by that fact, than you so much. 

Who would have thought that Jason would have a problem with a child being involved in a dangerous situation (me, that’s who), I guess that this is confirmation of DC not reading their own material because in one book Jason’s helping a kid “kill” the Joker and here Jason is like “WHY DID YOU JOIN A DEATH TOURNAMENT DAMIAN!?” (did ya put your name in the goblet of fire?!?! said Dumbledore calmly). I guess this Omniverse thing that DC has going on is helpful when you want to blame inconsistencies on something other than poor management on DC’s part. 

I just think that it’s funny. And also right on the line of OOC and in character for Jason, because I can actually see Jason being worried if a kid is joining that sort of thing, but I also don’t see Jason caring much about what Damian does or doesn’t. 

“If I can come home, so can you”

Good lord, I am not having a good time. I hate this. If this is your first time coming across one of my post, Hi! My name is Tati and I absolutely hate the fact that the fanon concept of “Batfamily” is being integrated in actual comics canon. 

This is so bad, what the hell is Jason saying? This man knows nothing about Damian’s situation, why would Jason not think that Damian has his own reasons not to go back “home”??? 

And what the HELL is Jason calling “home”, is he calling Batman or the Batfamily “home”??? Child, are you on crack? Honest question, because Bruce has done nothing for you, he has done awful things to you and he really doesn’t like you. 

Let’s be honest for a second, Bruce hates what Jason has become ever since he came back from the dead, Bruce hates the fact that Jason has a different way of seeing things. He only tolerates Jason when he can molde him the way that he wants. 

I mean, what the hell is this, why would Jason, after the events of Batman and Robin (2011) #20, RHatO (2016) #25 and even Urban Legends #6, want to go back to Bruce or any of his bullshit? Why? How many times does DC have to prove itself that Jason and Bruce don’t work well together anymore? How long until they realise that Jason doesn’t fit in their Bat-narrative? 

I am so tired of this, I swear, when will this end?

Jason and Damian have a chat.

I don’t mean to be repetitive but, what the hell is this? 

First of all, here we are again with writers wanting to encapsulate every Robin’s whole being in one word, don’t they get tired of being this basic? Dick is experienced, Tim is smart... how dull do you have to be? I this was your attempt at having Damian waste time then you could have had him say something more creative. 

“You are the most emotional”, what does that mean? I mean, i guess it’s true but how is that relevant here, or why would that catch Jason off guard? Is it because fanon Jason is the epitome of “bad boy with a heart of gold” or...?

Also, Jason returning the hug after such a wild conversation has me wondering what the hell is going on, weren’t these two fighting the last time they saw each other? Why didn’t Jason realise that Damian hugging him is off?

Jason is a dumbass.  

Well, he isn’t, Jason Nation knows that but he has been written as if he were a dumbass. How did Jason not see that Damian had ulterior motives when he “hugged” him? Jason, my love, you guys fought the last time you saw each other and because the Omniverse is a thing, you also tried to kill Damian...

Why wouldn’t you think that Damian going for a hug was actually a trap? Are you being written as an unintelligent human being again to make another character look good when you are easily defeated? Is that it? 

Yeah, that’s it. 

I don’t know what else I can say about this panel, like come on, give Jason a little credit, we swear he is smart DC! 

Don’t try to play games with Dick, Jason. 

Dick was having none of it! What was he thinking? Jason got his ass tasered and now he is like “Dick why would you let Damian play games with you?”. Why do people write Jason this way? Why is he the dumbass/comic relief nowadays? Is this why he was dragged back to the Bat? So he can be the dumb one with snarky remarks? 

How boring.

-

Listen, I think that this issue was good when it came to Dick and Damian’s moments, they are the ones that have more history together, they respect and love each other enormously. Their interaction were really good, very enjoyable. My problem with this issue was obviously Jason’s presence and the part that they let him play. After reading this, I know that I was right when I thought that Jason shouldn’t have been put here. It doesn’t make sense and it does nothing for Jason’s characterization. 

So yeah, those are my thoughts on this, as always, you are welcome to think differently! 

#jason todd #dick grayson #damian wayne #red hood #nightwing #robin #robin 5 #tuesday spoilers #dc comics

[aion-rsa]

Creating the Ultimate Power Rangers/Ninja Turtles Crossover

https://ift.tt/2PbnNNe

Writer Ryan Parrott outlines what inspired the new team-up between the two titans of kids TV and why you won't be seeing Venus.

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The Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have crossed over before but this time it’s going to be even bigger. The original team-up between the two titans of kids TV rocked the world in the 90’s but it was with the Power Rangers in Space team and the turtles of the Next Mutation live-action series. Still fun to be sure but it wasn’t the exact way a Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles crossover had played out in many kids minds.

Since the Power Rangers exploded onto the scene several years after the Turtles ruled the world, fans had often wondered what would happen if the original Mighty Morphin Rangers crossed over with the classic four Turtles. Well, now Boom Studios is making it happen. Out now in comic book form, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 is a fans dream come true. The Turtles and the Power Rangers fighting against each other (and they aren’t under a spell!) Tommy working with the Foot Clan? It’s a ton of fun and it’s being written by the current architect of Power Rangers comics, Ryan Parrott. 

We had to talk with Ryan about where the idea for this crossover came from, his way of writing the Turtles, and if this book fits in the continuity of either the Power Rangers or Turtles comic series. 

DEN OF GEEK: What are the restrictions that come with writing two teams from two different companies (Boom and IDW) and then also two different companies who are licensing them as well (Hasbro and Nickeldeon)?

RYAN PARROTT: Not as much as you'd think. I've been actually very amazed at how open and excited they were about everything that we pitched them. They are just as excited about this as you were, which is one of the fun things. It’s obviously happened before in the TV show. They were just sort of like, "let's do what we can do," and they were open to everything. I couldn't be more complimentary about the process.

Was it you that came up with the pitch originally? Was it Boom? Was it IDW? Who was the first one to really talk about doing this?

When I felt my time with Power Rangers was sort of coming to an end, I was calling my editor to try and pitch. I was like, "What can I do? What's not being done right now?" I was like, "Oh, a Power Rangers/Ninja Turtles crossover?" And so, I called, and before I even actually mentioned it to her (editor Dafna Pleban), she was like, "Hey, I'm sorry there's nothing for you right now. We're too busy with the crossover." And I was like, "What crossover?" And she's like, "Oh, we're doing a Power Ranger/Ninja Turtles crossover." I was like, "That's what I was calling to pitch you!"

read more: Power Rangers: A Guide To The Multiverse

It was that weird moment of ... Everybody already knew. So I was jazzed. It was already in process, but they hadn't chosen a writer yet and they were still in the early stages. So I just started begging profusely to be able to do it. Thank God they let me do it, because I would've lost my mind if I hadn't been a part of it.

What was in your initial ideas for what this team up would be?

Well, my approach is ... it sounds silly, but it was more thinking of it like, "Okay, when I was 10 years old and I was playing with my action figures, what are all the things I wanted to see? What were the ideas that I had?" Because I had every action figure for both these franchises. I put my parents in the poor house.

(Some of it) came from the visuals. It started off with, "Wouldn't this be cool if…” And then it was through that process, that I started realizing that it makes sense. There are so many crazy similarities between these two franchises. If I described it, I'd say it's a group of color-coded teenagers fighting minions and trying to stop an evil despot from taking over the world while being led by a wise and noble sage.

read more: Power Rangers Movie Inspired By Classic Series… And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

I thought, "Wow, there's something... If that's how they're the same, how are they different?" That was the nice thing about having the crossover with (Power Rangers in) Space (having) already happened. Oh, they're already in the same universe. So maybe the Turtles know who the Power Rangers are, but the Power Rangers don't know what the Turtles are, because one of them is fighting out in the open and the other one is fighting and saving the world from shadows.

At that moment I realized, "Oh, that's the story that I want to do.” I want to see how these two people who are both doing the same things, but who have completely different lives because of who they are and what they're doing. Then the story evolved from there.

We’ve already seen from the Rangers and Turtles end up in a fight. With all team up books, do they always have to fight? Why can't they just be friends?

Well, I think it's sort of like if you've ever gone on a date with someone or you've ever met a person at a party, and you're like, "I don’t like that person." And then you get to know them better later on through a different situation, it's always like, "Oh wow, they're actually way cooler."

It makes the friendship or the relationship that much better when you have preconceived notions at the beginning And that's what's funny, don't we want to see who's the better fighter? Haven't we always had that thing of like, "Okay, so who would win in a fight, Leo or Jason? Who's funnier, Zack or Michelangelo?" And to me, that's half the fun, is I want to see that played out a little bit in real time before we all get to the fun kumbaya.

Does this story fall in any place in the timeline of the actual Power Rangers comic book? Or is it in its own nebulous team up world?

Well, doesn't fall in a particular slot in Mighty Morphin or Ninja Turtles, only because when you're doing a crossover, you can't rely on one fan base being as up to date on the other one as you'd like. But if you've been reading Mighty Morphin I can't expect that you also have been reading Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and vice versa.

read more: The Many Crossovers of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

If you're a hardcore Power Rangers fan but you're only a casual Ninja Turtles fan, or vice versa, I wanted you to be able to pick up the book and enjoy and not wonder who these new characters are, which is one of the reasons why Venus isn't in it. It's one of the reasons why Jennika’s not in it. It's one of the reasons why Matt isn't in it or Dayne isn't in it.

I don't want you to have to take this book and go, "I don't know who any of these characters are." So we tried to keep it as a love letter to the original two shows that I love. It's sort of a re-imagining of those two shows, if there had been a crossover episode between season one of Power Rangers and season one of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

You have the Ninja Turtles characterized in a different way from even, say, the 80’s show or any of the many iterations of them. Where did you draw your characterization of the Turtles? Was it from the recent comics or was it just your general memory of them?

We actually had a long conversation about that, because at one point we were like, "Are we going to do the Turtles from the comic book?" And I think the conversation was, "Let's do an updating, the same way that we updated the Power Ranger's in Go Go," where it was like, that was the character from the original series, but let's update them in a little bit more of a modern context. Let's update them with modern personalities a little bit. Let's do the same thing with them. Let's reimagine them the same way we would if we were doing that for the Ninja Turtles.

So in that way, it ended up becoming a little bit of my own version where I had to do a little bit of the show, a little bit of the movie, and then a little bit of the original Eastman/Laird comics which I wanted to make sure that I stayed true to that a little bit, too. It was a little bit of hodge podge with all of that. I will say, there were a lot of references to the TV show. There are direct lines and references to the movie because I am a huge fan of the first Ninja Turtle movie. I think it's fantastic and it still holds value. If you're like me and you grew up with that sort of thing, hopefully they stay true to the voices of all of those mediums put together.

In a way you're creating your own version of the Turtles, even though they're obviously an amalgamation of so much of what's come before. Is there anything that makes your Turtles stand out in comparison to any of the other versions?

They're just so incredibly well written. No, I didn't try and reimagine them in any way that I thought was extreme or subversive. I liked the characterization, I can hear their voices. Whenever I'm writing anything, I like to do an experiment where if you ask every character the same question, and if they answer it, they should all answer it different ways, because no one answers the same question. That's what I did with Ninja Turtles.

read more: The Weirdest Classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Episodes Ever

I just tried to make them as defined as possible, but there's nothing in there that I think that would make them like, "Oh, this is Ryan Parrott's Turtles." They're still the Turtles, hopefully the Turtles that you guys know and love. If you find that the voices are consistent with those characters, and even if you can't place exactly which medium they're in, then hopefully I did my job.

You talked about wanting to make this that anybody could come in to read it who's not a hardcore fan of either franchise. But was there ever any thought in your mind to say, "What if we just put Venus in there anyway, just because we can?"

I'm going to be honest, man, no. If you were to bring Venus into the story I wasn't entirely sure how timeline wise that worked. But it would've been a story about who Venus was. I feel like if you were going to do that story, you would have to almost do an origin story of that character, and then it becomes a story about Venus and not about the other turtles. So to me, leaving her out of it, I just thought made it so that I could play around with the Turtles that I grew up loving, as opposed to her sort of taking over the story.

 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 is out now from Boom Studios.

Keep up with all our Power Rangers Beast Morphers news and reviews here!

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter! He also co-hosts a Robotech podcast, which covers the original series and the new comics. Give it a listen! Read more articles by him here!

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Interview Shamus Kelley

Dec 4, 2019

Power Rangers

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Boom! Studios

from Books https://ift.tt/2rdhelb

#aion-rsa #Books

[pepperstrawberry]

You've been posting a lot of Batman stuff about mental illness. There's some fan theory that the heroism and such is all in his head (especially with the cliche names, etc). If so, his caring for the villains, as they are mentally ill, definitely seems like a cry for help. Even if not in his head, I suppose. Anyway, roundabout way of asking, but are you doing okay?

Originally, I read this one way, and had an answer about my rant overall… but then I realized you meant ‘There is this theory’ as a seprate thought caused by my posts and not actually a statement from them.

1) I don’t escribe to that theory at all. That was born from most of the -bad- takes of Batman, not the good ones. Of course he might have cries for help himself, and he has a hard time actually talking to others about his issues even in the best written stories, but in those better written stories, he understands his pain well enough that he channels it into his work

2) Which is where his caring for his rogues gallery comes from in the first place. The best written batman is the one that had dealt with a fellow like Joe Chill (his parent’s killer in most canons) and comes out of it realizing that there is a deeper root cause to crime then just ‘grrr bad people’ as most folks play off superheroes doing. ‘I fight bad guys’… that’s not Batman at his core. He is a detective, he finds the root of the evil and hits that. He strikes fear because he knows that a lot of people will react to that faster. But at the same time (as i mentioned in one of my posts), he also as Bruce Wayne, has charities and works actively to pull Gotham out of the dark. If they would just actually work toward an ending rather then a status quo (the double edged blessing and curse of superhero comics in specific and a lot of stories in syndication in general), there is a good chance that a lot of Gotham would start to look like Metropolis (I don’t think one man, no matter how rich, can do it on his own, but that’s kinda the point because…)

3) A lot of folks who love the growly scowly frank miller mess batman forget that he gained a make shift family over the years. and I find it funny how rarely folks actually realize what they are saying in relation to batman, bruce himself when saying the phrase ‘Bat family’. Dick, Barbra, Steph, Cass, Damion, Tim, Jason, Alfred, and many others have come around him like a new family (Tim being actually adopted, and Damion being his real son). This is super important because of how he started. He lost a family, and now, in trying to make the world a better place, he gained a new one. One that is harder to loose because they can back him up.

Buuuuuuut… that is all stuff I basically said through all my reblogs.

I don’t think you meant any harm by it, but really I feel like that time years ago when a councilor at an after school therapy place did once. He was not my councilor, he didn’t really know me, and he was even a part of a different section.

Dude sat down next to me, looked at one of my drawing of a guy with a big sword and started asking me questions that went right to the frudian places you could probably guess. Even at the younger age I was at at the time (this was like, 20? years ago for me…. so like 16ish?) I know it was highly inappropriate what he was doing.

What i’m saying is, while I appreciate the concern, and I can understand your worry and concern, and I really do mean what I’m about to say in the up most respect:

Not only is it inappropriate to psychoanalyze someone you don’t know based on a handful of posts, but the way this question was posed is actually really uncomfortable.

If that wasn’t your intent, I do apologize, but that is how it comes across. If you follow my blog for any length of time, been on any of my streams at all or really anything like that, I’m actually rather open with my issues most of the time. I do have a great network of followers, friends, and mutuals here.

And yes, I really do need to see a proper councilor/therapist sometime as soon as I can (part of my frustration with loosing my job really).

But in either case, and no matter your intent, the rant and reblogs were all about characterization and story telling, not my own personal issues. I aspire to be a comic/story creator, and I have done some, I won’t call it extensive study, but I am far far more aware of the machinations of storytelling and characterization then I was in my childhood. Something that serves well for creating the story, but also adds to my frustration when… well, just look at all the posts I’ve done in the last few hours. ^_^;

So yes. Bottom line, I’m fine in that I know that I am not fine. I have friends, and sometimes a cigar is a cigar.

#superhero rant #wretchedor30

[oh-mother-of-darkness]

asks (12)

Anonymous said: When I first came to this comic book fandom I was just a batman fan, didn't even know there was more than 1 robin (I feel so ashamed now oh my god), thought batman was the coolest superhero etc. But then I found your blog and started to pay more attention to batfamily. And now can't watch any batman-oriented movies (screw you, Nolan) or cartoons if there's no batfam member except Alfred. So, yeah, I blame you for this, thanks a lot (I'm serious, thank you so much, I love you)

:’) It’s my absolute pleasure

@macko-99 said: Do you think Duke has begun to acept the weird-ass crap that goes on in Wayne Manor or is he still getting used to it?

Is anyone ever truly used to it?

I like to think he know to expect something, but the day to day reveal of what exactly that something is can still be shocking. Just walk away, honestly. Don’t question it. This is probably normal.

Anonymous said: which comics do you recommend?

Hm my favorite series are Red Robin, Batgirl (2009), both Batman and Robins, and Robin: Son of Batman. Some of my favorite story lines are Under the Red Hood and The Black Mirror. For a better list, you’d have to be a little more specific about what you were looking for.

Anonymous said: hey what do u think of the dc's new Powerless show that coming out?

I’m really looking forward to it! It sounds like they’ve switched up their premise a little bit-- it used to be an insurance company, and now it’s R&D-- but I’m pretty happy with it either way, and I’m especially excited because the last trailer had them working for Wayne Enterprises. I wouldn’t necessarily expect any bats to show up in the show, but I can always pretend they’re there, and they might make references

Anonymous said: Can i request a fluffy damian acting his age™ hc's with cherry on top?

Hm I already did that one (here), so unless I come up with something else, I reckon that’s all there’s gonna be

@arabian-batboy said: Can write something where Bruce come across Jason in an alley after his resurrection but before Talia took him in & since he couldn't talk at that time (& because he's supposed to be dead) Bruce thinks it's just a hallucination and just leaves him?

Just for the record I am planning on writing this for you, Ive just been kinda busy lately. Sorry about the wait!

@lowbloodkiwi said: I've been on a completely unhealthy Jason Todd Binge and your blog is now victim to this search as well. (Aka nerdsobsessedwithheroes is me and Jason Todd beat my love for Dick Grayson oh no)

Lmao no problem :) My favorite list switches up all the time. Not the top spot, you know, but everyone else.....

Anonymous said: Would Jason have been better off never meeting Bruce or being adopted by him?

Hmmmmm that’s kind of hard to call, I reckon. I guess.... probably?

I think my answer would depend pretty heavily on whether Jason’s life gets any better or not-- specifically his mental health-- and I don’t know if that’s going to be the case. It would happen if I was in charge of things, but regrettably I am not.

Things as they are, Jason’s association with Bruce has been pretty terrible for him. The death/resurrection thing was traumatic on both ends, and then you got his estrangement from his family, all of the stuff with the League of Assassins, and now he’s killed a lot of people.

If Bruce hadn’t found him, we don’t know what would have happened, but I would assume four years in the foster care system and then... who knows.

The problem is that Jason was pretty messed up before Bruce got ahold of him, so I can’t say with any certainty that things would have worked out for him if he hadn’t gone with Bruce. I can pretty definitely say that it wouldn’t have involved dying and coming back to life, but I can’t say it would be fun. 

And even though Jason is doing really badly now, he’s very young in the grand scheme of things. If he can get to a better place that still involves Bruce, we potentially could be looking at decades of good stuff that ends up outweighing the bad. 

But for now, he personally probably would have been better off without Bruce. Of course, if that was the case, a lot of other people would be dead and/or worse off, but that’s not really the question here.

Anonymous said: What's your analysis of Jason and Bruce's relationship?

Okay I got 500 words into this and then my motivation suddenly disappeared, so I’m just gonna... come back to this question next round, if that’s okay

Anonymous said: Got any Jason Todd whump angst fic recs?

Ah I don’t actually read any fanfiction except my own, so if you’re looking for outside stuff, I’m afraid I can’t help you :///

My Jason angst is here: 1 2 3 4

I think the first one is probably the closest to what you’re looking for?

Anonymous said: how would you characterize tim? if you were writing the comics or describing his character to someone I mean

Oh boy that’s a complicated question

As a kid, I think Tim was highly idealistic and very eager to help. He was (and is) super smart, compassionate, and self-sacrificing... the problem being that if you continually sacrifice yourself, bad things tend to happen.

Tim volunteered to become Robin because he thought that Bruce needed him. Since that point, Tim has lost a whole lot of people: his birth parents, several of his siblings, and a lot of his closest friends (Bruce and Dick were fake-dead, Damian died, Cass died twice but both times very briefly, Bart, Stephanie, Kon).

All of that death (plus the trauma of 18086403658 near-death experiences and witnessing crime up close on a daily basis) has made Tim into a different person now than he was at the beginning. To quote Tam Fox, “Tim Drake is the saddest person I’ve eve met.” To quote Tim, “I grew up.”

Most of those people came back, but that doesn’t really fix things.

Grief is a big part of it-- so is this sort of exhaustion that makes Tim a little bit more likely to break rules than the others. His gray area is bigger. He’s a lot like Bruce in that he can be pretty calculating, and sometimes he isolates himself.

Even so, Tim has a lot of meaningful relationships (see above), and he never completely lost his nerdy-ass sense of humor or his empathy. Losing his birth parents was bad, but he did gain a new family, and that’s been good for him. His biggest motivation is still to help other people, and he’s great at it.

Anonymous said: I don't know why but I'm craving some of your exquisite angsty hc's with a hopeful or good ending or outcome or whatever,if you have any I'm all eyes bruh.Hmm maybe dami?Just go wild!may the angst guide you "if don't feel like it ignore me darling<3"

Oh shoot I forgot to mention you in that Tim angst. Sorry bout that, but it was for you

#asks

[lazybarbarians]

Moving Target by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry

Ragnell: This week we read Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure. It’s the YA novel for the new Star Wars canon set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, a companion to last week’s selection actually, and actually has ½ the same authors.

The story takes place a few months after ESB, when the ship Leia’s riding on gets attacked. This sets up the background, which is that she and luke have been identified as symbols for the Alliance and are being moved around secretly and separately because they are massive targets. The entire Alliance has split into small cells that never stay in one place very long since the Hoth attack.

Leia’s being doing recruitment and diplomatic visits. She gets called to see the rest of Alliance High Command and finds out there’s a new Death Star being built, and the Alliance needs to gather the fleet and plan an attack before construction is complete, but they need to avoid Imperial attention. To that end, Leia volunteers to act as a decoy and draw Imperial attention away from the gathering by posting a fake recruitment mission and just basically being a moving target.

During this she speaks to Luke and Mon Mothma, which are very sweet scenes in which both characters try to convince her that it's perfectly acceptable to put aside her sense of duty to rescue Han. (Han’s rescue is not something the Alliance can afford to do, but no one’s objecting to a small volunteer force.)

After that she collects her team of dupes, a naive idealistic comm specialist named Kidi, a literal-minded mechanic named Antrot, the pilot Nien Nunb (Lando’s co-pilot during the RotJ Death Star run), and a commando named Lokmarcha, Lok for short. Lok is assigned by one of the Interchangeable Disposable Alliance Generals You Will Never See Outside This Story as a bodyguard for Leia, which she understands but is annoyed at. Only Leia and Lok know the mission is a decoy, the others are fairly earnest and a source of guilt for Leia.

They set up beacons using old encryption codes Leia knows the empire cracked at 3 different locations. The first one involves climbing up a chimney, the second meeting cool pirates, and the third a farmer matriarch who says she’s just gonna tell the Empire to go fly a kite as soon as they’re done setting this stuff up. Both the first and second meeting points get a very fast visit from a very bland villainess who has a Star Destroyer. Why she gets a Star Destroyer I don’t know. The third involves Leia breaking the truth to her whole team and helping the matriarch defend against the Imperials. Then she goes to the fake meeting point to warn away the recruits, and gets captured.

They come up with some plan to blow up the ship, but instead Lok dies in a grisly manner because he has a suicide EMP device in his chest, Leia stealing the bland villainess’s clothes and Antrot dies blowing up the ship so they can escape the Star destroyer. The recruits attack the thing to help them, Leia, Kidi and Nien survive and Leia calls Luke who tells her that they’re ready to start the third movie.

Oh, and Kidi and Lok got together so Kidi can be sad about Lok’s death and Leia can connect the whole thing to Han but there’s barely any page time spent on it.

So, this book is annoying to me because it could be a lot better than it is. And it has some good parts, mainly Leia’s characterization, and the scenes with Mon Mothma, Luke, and Nien. A few here and there during the mission too. But it falls short for two reasons for me.

First, it starts off implying that Leia and Luke have been traveling on different ships and not really doing much for the better part of the year while Han is gone. I don’t like that, it seems wasteful. This is prime twin-teamup time, and there should be room left for stories where they do even if this particular one is a Leia solo story. But it seems to position itself to account for most of the year, and while the interaction with Luke is wonderful the wistfulness implies that she just hasn’t been able to see him much since Bespin and I hate that. So right away, the book loses some points for me.

The second problem is that Leia is presented as needing a specific character arc in this. In ESB, we saw her open herself up to romantic love. We didn’t see her learn to put aside her sense of duty, a core concept of the character since her first appearance, to allow herself that time. And the writers have the best idea, they present this perfectly in the early scenes with Luke and Mon Mothma. We see Leia’s pessimism and cynicism contrasted against Luke’s faith. Then we get Mon Mothma pulling Leia aside to tell her it’s OKAY to want a life for herself, it’s okay to pull back from her duties to work to get that. So Leia starts out the book thinking it’s selfish to have romance and she won’t be able to have Han back anyway.

Over the course of the mission, she changes her mind. Which is the problem. There’s really not a lot in the mission driving this lesson home. The four parts of the mission itself never really give Leia reason to reflect on Han. She reflects on her time in the Death Star, and balances whether the ends justify the means but there’s not a lot to remind her what she’s lost. Instead it lets her get her mind completely off of Han while she’s working.

The background romance between Kidi and Lok reminds her of herself and Han when they catch them kissing, but there’s not a lot of groundwork laid during the bickering and honestly not a lot of parallels between either character and Han, or really either character and Leia. Lok’s death should underscore this lesson too, but we never see how Leia connects the dots. Really, the only character on the entire crew who reminds us of Han is Nien Nunb, who’s a little roguish and a source of humor, while the others are all aspects we see in Luke -- an innocent technician, a young idealist, and a badass commando who’s willing to sacrifice himself to give everyone else a shot.

It would’ve been better to shape the mission around something that drives home Leia’s central character arc, rather than have it be work that takes her mind off her problems with a brief interlude of two people with a situation that vaguely resembles her. Maybe more use of the one character with traits in common with Han, I know they can't kill Nien but they could have made Leia fear for him more. Instead we got a quick death for a character in a romance as a cheat to a lesson, and I know both Castellucci and Fry can write better than this.

Kalinara: I didn’t find the book quite as annoying as you did. But I do agree that there were a lot of missed opportunities.

The best part of the book were the canon characters, honestly. As you mentioned, the dynamic between Luke and Leia was lovely. Their scenes together shined. I also really liked the way Mon Mothma was used. She was a welcome maternal figure, one who wasn’t afraid to talk to Leia about her losses and encourage her to find happiness where she could.

The biggest problem for me was that it feels like this book basically shunts Leia to the side of any meaningful plot during this time period. I mean, Lando and Chewbacca are looking for Han. Luke is doing...Jedi stuff. Leia’s part of a distraction mission to hide the rebels’ true plans regarding the Second Death Star. A mission that we know is pointless, since the Second Death Star was a trap anyway.

Leia has strong, appealing characterization, but the characters that she’s stuck bouncing off of are basically stock placefillers. Kidi is the sweet ultra-liberal, tree-hugging stereotype girl, Lok is the frowning by the book military guy, the third dude, Antrot? Is basically whiny nerd comic relief so forgettable that I’m still not sure I got his name right.

Leia never has an opportunity to really connect to any of these characters, and there’s really no reason given that she should. The only one she has any sort of real connection with is Lok, and she does shine there, as she manages to smoothly assert her authority while still respecting his concerns.

I think it stands out to me because one of the best parts of the first (or maybe second) chapter was Leia musing about how her life in the Rebellion hadn’t given her the opportunity for friendship. Luke, Han, Chewie, the Droids, they were the first time she really was able to connect to people on that level. I expected that to mean something with these new characters. I expected to see Leia make friends. But it never really happened.

It’s not just a matter of these characters being OCs, because authors in both the Expanded Universe and the new canon have managed to introduce OC friends for Leia that worked very well. Winter was a staple in the old canon. And Ransolm Casterfo, for all the complications there, had a very vivid connection to Leia in Bloodlines. So it is absolutely doable. But it didn’t happen here.

Lok came closest, but he was still more archetype than man. Kidi and Antrot were too young and wide-eyed. Which is a bit weird to say, considering how Leia latched onto Luke. But Luke was a kid who rescued her and was never in her direct command, so there’s a subtle difference there. She and Luke and Han were equals in an emotional sense, and these kids are not.

Nien Nunb comes closest. He’s definitely the most vivid of the characters (I admit, I think of him almost as an original character because it took me ages to remember who he was. I fail Star Wars forever). And he and Leia do interact a lot more like friends, but there isn’t much chance to explore that relationship dynamic either. He always seems to miss the fun chimney climbing adventures, only to rejoin them again later.

I think maybe the problem is that the authors were trying too hard for the romantic parallel, which meant we wasted way too much time watching Kidi and Lok play Ollie and Hal on a road trip, rather than seeing Leia’s relationship develop with either character. They should have gone for a friendship parallel instead. Because that’s the thing, Han was Leia’s friend long before he was her love. And Leia isn’t just neglecting her feelings for Han during this time period, she’s also letting duty get in the way of being with Luke. (In that sense, I actually liked that they hadn’t interacted much during this time period. I think it fits with Leia’s theme.) She needs to learn that she can be selfish, so to speak, and value her friends, and be able to find happiness with them. Both the friend she loves romantically, and the friend that she doesn’t.

And honestly, I thought Lok’s death was rather disturbing for a YA novel. Maybe I’m just an old fuddy-duddy, but that was a bit much.

#Leia misses the fun again #Leia Organa + Nien Nunb teamup #Pointless Romance #Missed Opportunities #Dead men defrosting #A Disney Prince(ss) in Space #Star Wars #Moving Target #Cecil Castellucci #Jason Fry