zahri-melitor

[zahri-melitor]

Anyway I am fully aware that getting weirdly obsessed and carrying on about characters nobody else brings up is part of my charm as a blog.

Obviously.

I mean, it does keep the number of people following me down to reasonable levels.

Either way, my next stop is rereading Quiver, in light of all this, and repeating "Kevin Smith, what did you do?"

I am quite interested that two comedy writers took the same basic concept in two such divergent directions. I will however say outright that Phil Foglio managed to link the stories into DC proper far more cannily via exploiting the Sandman-Vertigo route through his depictions of Hell (but maintaining the original tone of the stories), while Kevin Smith instead takes Stanley and His Monster and deconstructs the concept in the service of Green Arrow storytelling.

#stanley and his monster

[zahri-melitor]

Compilation of a boy and his dog 💗💗💗

#stanley and his monster

[zahri-melitor]

Okay. Stanley and his Monster metapost. Meaningless to anyone but me, let's go.

One of the first things we learn about the Monster is that he has had to wander the earth because everywhere he goes, he is rejected. Note the racism in one of these panels, POC don't really show up, but European characters do and "funny accents" is like. Half the jokes. Even Stanley has a lisp.

Stanley ends up taking the Monster in, under the false belief he is a dog. His parents let him, under the false belief said "dog" is imaginary. That is the dynamic the series is built on. The monster, later named Spot (there's a background detail where he used to be named Massachusetts after the only people who were ever kind to him, which deserves its own dissection) is a fugitive from a prejudiced world, hidden in secret in Stanley's house, afraid to tell him the truth.

Eventually he is joined by a ghost who claims to be Napoleon, and he and said Ghost blackmail each other: I'll say you're Napoleon if you say I'm a dog. Just a slight extension of the status quo. Where things get interesting is the last two host guests: a pair of fair folk, German and Irish, who make the subtext text. They smuggled into the country illegally and the problem they are outrunning that forces them to not reveal the other two is just straight up the immigration police.

Despite most of their depiction being stereotypical, the justness of them escaping immigration is never question, there's literally an issue where they just torment an officer and get away with it. And they don't even lie to Stanley about it! He just fully embraces that his responsibility is to help them hide from the law!

Most issues, frankly, do not do much with these concepts. But the interesting one is the last issue of the original run (and quick shout out to the 90s version, where Spot was exiled from Hell for being good, only for centuries later angels decide to try and send him back "where he belongs", the parallels with asylum seekers, while unintentional, are pretty noticeable if you're looking). In it, every conceit of the status quo is played upon. His parents discover Spot, and reveal to Stanley, with tears in his eyes, he is not a dog. His parents punish him for bringing him into their home, and monster catchers take Spot away. But, at night, Stanley resolves. Even if Spot is not a dog, he is still his, and the child sneaks out at night to go rescue him. It ends up being a dream sequence, and Stanley hugs Spot (apparently now aware he's lying about being a dog!)

I know literally no one but me cares about these characters but godddd I could them work. Like. There's actually a very tight set of themes woven through the cast, stakes to raise and lies to maintain and reveal, and that ending could make a great arc.

#stanley and his monster #decent summary of the themes actually

[zahri-melitor]

Circling back however for a moment to Secret Origins #48 (1986) and to Who's Who in the DC Universe #1 - in these in 1990 Phil Foglio made his first pitch at what he eventually turned into the 1993 mini, and we get the actual formal retcon of Stanley's Monster's origin to being from hell.

Essentially, Lucifer banishes the Monster (or as he's referred to "one of the Nameless Lords of the Sixth Circle") to Earth for being too nice! He keeps baking and putting 'have a nice day' stickers on things!

The story then proceeds to basically run through essentially a beat for beat version of the original origin story from Fox and the Crow #95.

We do get an answer for 'why Stanley thinks the Monster is a dog' though:

I can only imagine they got away with this Secret Origins comic as the series had completely run out of steam - this issue features, alongside Stanley and His Monster, such character giants as Ambush Bug, Rex the Wonder Dog and the Trigger Twins. They were really scraping up a bunch of largely-forgotten properties to fill it out.

The Who's Who entry covers essentially the same summary:

#z canon read throughs #stanley and his monster

[zahri-melitor]

Stanley and His Monster #4 (1993)

This is exactly how I feel about this series. It's silly and playful and it's also a warm hug.

It's a really lovely update to the 1960s stories, in that it's easier to follow, the characters are more coherent, and The Monster is officially a demon from hell (and we lost a bunch of the character deadweight).

It is however incredibly written and drawn by Phil Foglio, and I know some people's mileage may vary on that.

#z canon read throughs #stanley and his monster

[zahri-melitor]

PONYO (2008) —

dir. Hayao Miyazaki.

[id in alt]

[zahri-melitor]

Beatora is in a weird limbo for me. I had only just finished Justice League America when Welcome to Smallville came out. There's a bit in the letter columns where the editor responded to a letter about Bea/Sigrid and Al/Todd with "can't two women or, for that matter, two men be just friends?", and then Sigrid's feelings were explicitly romantic in that arc and Todd came out as gay later, so I didn't fully believe the WtS author when they said Bea and Tora were just friends. For literally every other Homosocial Besties pairing I am capable of acknowledging that I'm too aromantic to identify intentional romantic undertones and am overcorrecting, but getting lied to about actual gay subtext in a comic from 1995 where the Flash is transphobic to a pterodactyl was so embarrassing that it turned me into a conspiracy theorist.

Hey look you are perfectly entitled to read in whatever you want, and let's be honest, 1990s comics were very much in the habit of only alluding to and joking around F/F relationships entirely for titillation purposes of men, usually the writers/artists themselves. So there's often a whole lot to read into the stories.

(Don't get me started on Harley/Ivy and Bruce Timm, but that's a whole rabbit hole I don't think has ever been properly addressed and still impacts the way they're used to this day)

And there's also the basic fact that in the 90s, buddy pairings who emotionally depended on each other as the most important other person in their lives were very much a thing. Whether it was two guys (see every buddy cop show ever), man and woman (Mulder & Scully, Stabler & Benson), or two women (Xena & Gabrielle), the levels of UST were off the charts and the same dynamics of dependence and affection that you get in married couples were translatable onto these relationships; they just were supposedly just friends and comrades (or frustrated friends).

So considering BeaTora as approximately as straight and 'just friends' as Xena/Gabrielle? I mean. You're allowed.

It's just notable to me that even in the current era they're specifically still being used in that 90s wink wink way rather than being explicit about it (which is fun! It provides variety for different audiences!), but they're also specifically making calls that keep it firmly still just inside the line of 'someone obtuse could miss any implications' or 'honestly you can still just read them as very very close friends'.

[zahri-melitor]

tbh out of all the characters I know; I think Tom King's best work would be on Cory Renwald - because he writes a pretty good superman and thus him writing a superman supporting character would work; and Cory works for the CIA. he isn't canon anymore though

The concept of giving Tom King that level of 'write what you know'? Hilarious. I'd probably prefer just handing him the DEO or Checkmate instead, personally, but I can see your train of thought.

I just want to give him Skartaris as I think it needs an update and it's got enough hooks for King to do a Mister Miracle job on it.

[zahri-melitor]

iirc the writer's second choice was Willoughby Kipling (who was also created due to Morrison not being able to use Constantine in Doom Patrol). but Kipling was also off-limits

You're correct. Hilarious that they ended up having THREE separate grumpy English wizards with drug habits running around simultaneously as editorial wouldn't share.

Like this is so far past winking at the camera and into "they wouldn't let me have John Constantine mwahahaha so I will instead write and draw John Constantine and occasionally lampshade it is Technically A Different Character" that I dunno why they bothered keeping Phil's sticky fingers off either Constantine or Kipling.

#z canon read throughs #stanley and his monster

[zahri-melitor]

What Current Titles I'm Reading (as of April 2024):

Figured I might as well update this, to look at what I'm doing, and as a bunch of minis have finished recently.

Batman (DC)

Batman & Robin (DC)

Batman/Superman: World's Finest (DC)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (DC)

Birds of Prey (DC)

Blue Beetle (DC)

The Flash (DC)

Green Arrow (DC)

Outsiders (DC)

Shazam! (DC)

Alan Scott: The Green Lantern (DC)

The Bat-Man: First Knight (DC Black Label)

Power Pack Into the Storm (Marvel)

Saga (Image, but by trade)

Monstress (Image, but by trade)

I do want to get to Ram V's 'Tec but at this point I'm saving it for when my read reaches it, I'll be adding The Boy Wonder and Zatanna: Bring Down the House when they release, and I'm planning to reassess once we get through Absolute Power and what's going on afterwards is properly announced.

[zahri-melitor]

just to clear up some confusion im seeing, if you see panels from "Batman (1940)" it does not mean they were all published during the year 1940 😭 that is the year the run started! this is because there are two main Batman runs, one from 1940-2011 (#1-#731/#1000000) and then another one from 2016-ongoing (currently at #148). this is because there will be an overlap of issue numbers, and since both runs have the same name, to avoid confusion one run is "Batman (1940)" and the other is "Batman (2016)".

the same can be said for the two Detective Comics runs, "Detective Comics (1937)" (#1-961/#1000000) from 1937-2011 and "Detective Comics (2016)" (#934-ongoing), currently at #1084 from 2016-ongoing.

so instead of saying Batman #57, to make it clear from which run, it's easier to say Batman (2016) #57 !

#while all of this is good information…there are THREE Batman and Tec runs #it’s very very funny seeing people pretend there weren’t any comics between 2011 and 2016 #why’s there a gap in the numbering between Tec 881 (the last pre-Flashpoint comic of the 1937 run) and the 934 start of the 2016 Tec run? #it’s like there are 52 issues you’re ignoring… #(effectively 57 but that’s due to the 23.1-4 and 0 issues)

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#I am currently reading 10/25 of DC continuing main universe comics #and 2/13 limited series #given most of my limiteds just finished #(three upcoming I’ll plan to read) #plus one Marvel limited series #which is honestly a good chunk imo

[zahri-melitor]

Janet and Tim Drake [and Jack too!]

#tim drake #janet drake #jack drake

[zahri-melitor]

anyways i do think analysis of the sexism that steph faced in 90s and early 00s comics and highlighting comparison of her treatment with that of tim's as a result of the sexism inherent in the writing by the writers is important & i've done it myself.

however. however. hm. despite this, i do think it's important to remember that by *limiting* it to a 1:1 comparison of stephanie's chances to tim's, of *course* steph is going to come out on bottom & a lot of that has less to do with sexism than one would think (it does definitely have *some* to do with sexism, i won't deny it). because the problem is that steph is a *side* character. a very important one, mind you. and dixon was doing his damndest post NML to try and elevate her to a main/core character. but she has been, since her very inception, a side character. and it's that, more than anything, that truly stymies her character chances. if the third robin had, by chance, been a female character and steph had been introduced/created to foil off her, steph *still* would have come out on bottom. if the third robin had been lonnie and steph had still been created, steph would have come out on bottom. steph coming out on bottom has suprisingly little to do with tim doing well. tim does well & is given endless chances because he's a main character. steph doesn't because she's a side character in that era. if there were a 'spoiler' title written by dixon that was allowed to make her a main character, he absolutely would have had her do well & become one of the best fighters in the dcu, of course he would have. it's why he wanted to make her robin, and not just that, an absolutely amazing robin. but since dc didn't want to elevate her to main character at the time, a side character she remained. and side characters. hm. i get it. it can be tough to like side character because you want the world for them! but in the end, side character are going to be treated as side characters.

so like. if you really want to interrogate steph as a female character of the 90s it's important to compare her not just to the male main character of the work she's in, but also to the treatment of other female characters *in her position of being a side character* at the time when evaluating whether she was treated fairly as a character. was she treated with more care and thoughtfulness to her characterization than other side female characters in the 90s? was her characterization unique to her and consistent? was she the token girl or are there other girls in the narrative? did it seem like the writer cared about her as a person? was she allowed to have interiority? was she allowed to be *more* than just a love interest? was she allowed to have meaningful and complex relationships outside the love interest? she made a lot of mistakes, but was she ditzy or airheaded or dumb? there's so much sexism surrounding steph's treatment, yes. but for a 90s female side character she makes out like a bandit on so many levels, even if she's never allowed to be as good as everyone else. idk.

#this is it here #part of Steph's problem is that she was created as a supporting character #and despite having had BG09 she's basically remained one for most of the last 32 years #it's not necessarily a bad thing - Lois Lane is a supporting character! - but it changes what stories and opportunities she gets #comparing her to a character who was intended from initial design onwards to be a main character is fundamentally unfair to Steph #of course Tim or Babs or Cass got more chances from the narrative; they were selling titles

[zahri-melitor]

Actually let's play 'titling stories is hard' and give people the chance to say nice things about your story titles (meme time!)

(if you want to join in, take this and repost and let me know so I can tell you how banger I think some of your horribly agonised over titles really are)

The basic categories of fic titles I use:

What it says on the tin:

Tabloid Media in the Nexus 

Real Conspicuous 

Coming Home 

Embracing My Yin 

Room Parties and Banquets

Acknowledged Brother 

Orange Juice

TES 34/64

State of Origin

The Desert

Tea for Two 

The Circus

A Single Cut

New Visitors 

Buried Six Feet Under

Time to quote various canons:

I'm Not Pregnant

A Duty To Your Family 

For the Honour of Vorhalas

Herds of Little Vorkosigans

You poured out honour like a fountain, all around you

What’s in a dream?

A Fabric of Marvels 

everytime you breathe, a grown-up dies (seventeen)

Quoting pre-19th century political pamphlets is a perfectly reasonable decision and doesn't sound pretentious at all:

A Modest Proposal 

The First Blast of the Trumpet

Song lyrics:

the picture frames have changed and so has your name

Find Out What It Means To Me

there's an endless road to rediscover 

Teach The Children Well

I Just Want to Wish You Well 

It's a pun:

College Daze 

I’ll hold your memory in my hands tonight 

The Wonderful Bats, Handmade By Babs 

Death of the Writer 

Engaged! (in defending your previous poor decisions)

I couldn't find a quote to fit so I made one up:

From the Outside, It's Shiny and Glamorous

Little Chick in a Nest 

bones of a dinosaur, bones of a city 

a gap where a parent should be 

Yes I have absolutely no consistency in how I capitalise titles, no I do not plan to change it any time soon. It's got to do with the vibe of the story.

[zahri-melitor]

Transferring some of my short snippet work over to AO3 and cursing that this means they need TITLES and SUMMARIES

But at least they’re easier to find over there.

Yes I could create a dump story rather than split everything up but firstly I’m ideologically opposed to fics that really should be collections (I don’t mind them if they’re properly themed but also I hate going through them looking for the particular short story I want), and secondly then I don’t get the fun of collecting multiple kudos.

But ugh. Summaries. What’s this story about? ‘Z rubbing Jason’s nose again in what he missed while he was dead and evil’ is not really a viable summary in the current fandom trends.

[zahri-melitor]

"why can't they just be friends" not in the homophobic way but in the "their platonic relationship in the source material is far more dynamic and complex than the sanitized personalities they gain as a result of shipping" way