Posts Tagged ‘robin’

DC Comics unsubscribes from me

Sunday, April 5th, 2009
Stikfas Bats
Image by Dr Stephen Dann via Flickr

I’ve been very silent lately for one reason (plus I could have sworn I posted a version of this a few months back).  I was a DC fan.  My pull list consisted of Blue Beetle,  Robin, Nightwing and Birds of Prey, a few bits of Batman and Booster Gold.

With the insufferably bad Crisis on Finite Batman storyline, which, back in <a href=http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/06/28/comics-round-up-the-ds-reading-list-for-june/>June 28 2008</a> I called the Jezebel Jade storyline. (She had the double – a villain and copped a ManBat fridging), I quit the BatFranchise.  Then the rest of the BatFranchise quit me.  The complete waste of death of Batman actually depressed me at the technical story writer level.  The Death of Batman should have been a central story arc for the entire DCU, and not some complex footnote in the story arc of Crisis 2009.

Like I said back then, DC needs to hire writers. Teams that could make the death of Batman something that fundamentally shook the core of the DCU, made every non-metahuman character reconsider their role if Batman, the best of the human, could be beaten, how could they deal? Plus, since Batman was so universally influential, his death by a team of supervillians would elevate those villains threat profiles astronomically.  Also, consider the competitive rivalry amongst the DCU villians now these clowns were responsible for the take down of the greates Detective ever… could Lex Luthor stand the humiliation? Would the Arkham Asylum inmates feel cheated of their revenge and seek new targets? How many Batverse villians would find their motivation waning now they weren’t challenging Batman? Would victory drive Joker sane?  All these and more could have been the dawn of an awesome era of story telling.

Instead we have Dick versus Tim versus Jason versus Randy Orton  in “Battle for the Cowl”. Oh, and Steph Brown being sacked as Spoiler. Again. Because that worked out as a clever story arc last time.

Right.

Wake me when Bruce comes back from the dead in 12 months, and somebody learns how to make BatBrat Damien interesting.

Since  now with all bar one of my regular comics stopped at the publisher side, and there’s a sequence of fearfully dull crossover arcs infecting the DCU,  I’m fishing around for a new franchise.  I’m not too keen on the Marvel Universe and I have routinely had problems following the internal logics of their universe

Anyone have anything positive/negative to say about the Wildstorm franchise? Specifically Gen 13, Stormwatch: PHD, Authority, and Wildcats?

Anything good in the IDW franchises?

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Comics round up – the DS reading list for June

Saturday, June 28th, 2008
Jaime Reyes. Promotional art for Blue Beetle vol. 7, #2 (2006), by Cully Hamner.

Image via Wikipedia

Things have been slow on the DS front as things have not been slow on the real life front (Don’t ask about my word count. It frightens small publishers).

Comic Review 1: Robin/Spoiler.

I’ve just read the Robin/Spoiler special in all its awesometastic awesomeness.  Steph’s diary notes are squee worthy. A totally awesome combo would be Spoiler + Blue Beetle as a team up.  The Jaime Reyes and Steph Brown combo would be awesome.

I love Steph going “Tim Drake Wayne” in her diary. That’s awesome. Also, this version of Robin is much more the Robin I grew to like in the main DCverse.  BabyBatcontrolfreakTitanRobin doesn’t resonate with me as a Tim Drake that fits into the larger DCverse.

Blue Beetle 27

On the Blue Beetle Foreshadowing Hammer of Doom, could the end two pages of Blue Beetle #27 please, please not be a foreshadow? Not just for the sake of the characters, but for the sake of the sales and story writing quality of the title?

BATMAN:WIP and Trinity (1 to 4)

Meanwhile, DC Universe hits the almost but not possible combination punch with Trinity AND Batman RIP. I read both. I paid money for both. Side by side, they suck.  Side by side they are two of the worse comics series to experience back to back.

ndividually, I’m finding myself quite fond of Trinity, and Batman:RETCON IN PROGRESS is very cleverly shaking the foundations of the DC established known continuity.

Here’s the problem though – on the right hand, Batman is a mythic level centre piece of a year long arc.  On the other hand, it’s the end of the Batman as we know it *handclap* it’s the end of the Batverse as we know it *handclap* and the two storylines are on the shelves at the same time.

That makes them both suck.  It’s not even the MuliWolverine syndrome (Sixteen Skrulls and counting). It’s two totally divergent stories in allegedly the same continuity.  Together, they’re fail.  Separated by a year or two, they’d both be key parts of the DCverse.  Right now, you can’t take either as serious contributions to the mythos,

Batman:WIP Theory: Given the number of times the DC universe has been hit with time rifts, weirdness and reality mergers, I think the events listed in Batman#677 did happen – but happened on Earth n+1 rather than the main timeline.  This time crisis/infinite crisis  sort of thing should have resonant impact on key players like Batman.

Oh, and if Jezebel Jade is the villain and/or cops a fridging, DC needs to hire writers. Actual writers, not story recyclers.

Trinity: I couldn’t stop laughing at the open serious seriousness visions – and thinking “Oh hey, it’s baby from that time when Dick Grayson humped the TimeStream back in inFinite Crisis”. I think the Tarot card metaphor is straining at the edges by #4, unless they start putting together a full deck of DC cards. That has merchandise and mythos approval.

Booster Gold #10:

Good comic, and ouch ending. Oh man. Oh man. That part of the arc ain’t over though, because there’s just something that says things turn out in an unexpected way.

Rightio, that’s the monthly wrap up.  I’m going to run silent for a little while whilst on tour for my day job, and whilst I set to planning what to do next with the DS column.  Suggestions and ideas would be most welcome.

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Reaction to Robin 174

Sunday, June 1st, 2008
Stephanie as Robin. Promotional art for Robin vol. 2, #126 cover, art by Damion Scott.

Image via Wikipedia

Can we have a case for the fourth wall? It seemed to have died in that episode. (cf:Batman (aside to camera) “And that’s why there was no case” *winks at camera*)

I’m in mixed feelings.  I’m on record as wanting the case more than Steph’s return. Partly because, well, I didn’t want to retcon Batman from “Worlds Greatest Detective” to “World’s Second Rate Detective”.  Let me tell you about the time Batman couldn’t prove that his nearest and closest medical ally smuggled his former Robin out from under his Batnose.  Let me tell you about the way he bought Leslie’s alibi about killing Steph without question. Let me show you the way that Batman would totally not worry about another sidekick comeback from the grave.  Let me show the way the as fabulous as it is to see Stephanie Brown back in the canon, back in the mask, and back from exile, it makes Batman look seriously… not Batman.  C’mon, they didn’t even check the corpse? WTF? For serious?  Batman is allegedly so paranoid and meticulous he’ll do weird isolation chamber meditation, but totally forgot to check the body in the box belonged to someone who had the wherewithal to break into the Batcave and steal one of the big secret game plans to trigger War Games?

Flipside, I have many many reasons to feel happy at seeing Spoiler back. I just have a large number of reasons to feel that the tidying up of a plot point before BATMAN: RIP (Retcon In Progress) was handled in a quite weird manner.  So, yay! Spoiler! and WTF Batman?

I would like to see two things from the Batfranchise though…

  1. Tim’s relationship with Bruce become strained over “Oh, I suspected but forgot to mention it” particularly in light of Batman 676.  Please tell me that someone at DC has a Batfreakingplan to write about this (or kill off Batman before it’s resolv…. oh yeah, BatmanRIP. Crud)
  2. Steph back in the franchise. Let’s not make this a one shot “There you go G-W people. Now STFU”.  DC, invest a bit in Steph’s return.  Run with it, make something of it.  Give Spoiler fans a reason to spend more money with you

Speaking of the crossover arc of doom. I’m giving Batman:RIPtide a three issue margin of error.  If they break out the fridge on Bruce’s girlfriend, then Steph or no Steph, I can’t keep giving money to a company that’s creatively bankrupt in the hero motivation department.

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Batman 673

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

Goddamn Batman! I’m actually excited about getting to the comic store and handing over cash for DC products.   Roll on the shopping spree tomorrow!

Dear DC

Thank you for listening.

Dear Friends of Girl-Wonder.

Thank you for speaking.

Dear Opponents of Girl -Wonder

Thanks for letting me quote Christina Aguilera at you.

Dear Mary

Thank you.  You thought of it, you believed in it, and look what it’s done so far.

Designated Sidekick

(and damnit, I’m crying because Steph got the recognition so long over due)

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Robin 170: Lack of Case acknowledged, and the Robin 171 teaser

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

 

Robin 170

Thanks to Mary, Weaves, and the host of others who have going OMG! about this issue.

Earth to Tim Drake. Thanks for picking up on that one. I see you were trained by the World’s Greatest Detective (/obYoung Justice joke)

Spoiler Warning

I have a vastly lowered set of expectations for Robin 171. I have a total lack of faith in this being anything but a swerve by DC.

This lack of faith is partly based on the experience, and partly on an assessment of the industry. What makes major players in an industry decide that screwing over the buyer was a better choice than selling products? I’m thinking about the way that representative from DC comics admitted to using pages from the Dixon Outsiders run out of context in the DC Previews / Solicits for the express purpose of inciting blogger anger. Using the sales tool to piss people off doesn’t fill me with the sort of confidence that I think they had in mind*

Given that, and the way that various other issues from DC have been handled with a sneer, a dismissive way, and a petulant whine about sales figures, I can’t bring myself to trust DC enough to feel excited about Robin 171 – which means, as some who has a car named Redbird (with the Tim Drake HeroClix and a Spoiler HeroClix on the dashboard), and had been buying the Robin series when it started (including the two variant covers), I wanted back into the love for the comics.

I don’t feel excited, I feel a pre-emptive dread that this will be a swerve, and it’ll be a swerve to go “HAHA! WE TRICKED YOU! YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK A LOT! HAHAHAHAH!” followed a few weeks later with some industry figure going “See? We screwed over the Steph Brown fans, and they didn’t buy up the comics after we screwed them over, so she doesn’t sell that well”.

I want to be wrong about Robin 171. I really do want to be blown away by the return of Spoiler.

I just hope that the opportunity to annoy a cohort of vocal fans is not more important than the idea of selling product to the same group.

Anyone want to bet on 171? Will it be a swerve or straight up?

*I have been reminded that it was Chuck Dixon, the person bringing us Robin 170 and Robin 171.  I feel less confident about 171

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