For your consideration:

Dear Jann Jones,

Thank you so much for mentioning me in the DC Nation. I have to admit, it was incredibly shocking. Here I am, flipping to the back of Supergirl and my name is in the column! I screamed in the middle of the library, and the librarian was concerned for my health.

The things you said about me were extremely kind, and I am so flattered you remembered my name, much less spelled it right (a feat not even my extended family is capable of). I really enjoyed meeting you at the convention and thought you were incredibly smart, funny and articulate.

I’m enjoying a great deal of DC’s output right now, but I feel obligated to mention in this letter that I really support the character of Cassandra Cain, but the feeling I get from my friends and people I talk with is that there is a negative attitude towards her miniseries.The fans have completely lost trust in Adam Beechen, not only because of how he treated Cassandra in Robin but in Teen Titans as well. I purchased the first issue myself, and I wasn’t very impressed with it, though it wasn’t horrible. I don’t think it has anything to do with the character, but rather the lukewarm quality of the writing. That seems to be the general feeling as well with my friends, and indeed, the plan was to buy the first issue of the miniseries to support Cassandra not being evil and to give it a fair shot, but if we found the writing to be subpar (which many did) to not purchase the rest of the series and write to DC to tell them why.

My point is, if this miniseries doesn’t sell well, I think it’s more of a reflection on the quality of writing and distrust of Adam Beechen (whether unfair or not) than the popularity of Cassandra as a character.

Sorry to unload this on you, I just felt obligated to write it, so I could let someone at DC know my feelings on the matter, and you seem very receptive and open.

Thank you for working so hard to produce nice comics (Ambush Bug and Billy Batson look to be great reads, and the promise of Spoiler appearing may have sold me on Tiny Titans. I’m looking forward to the children’s Supergirl series, as well as the new direction of the main title) and for listening and remembering me!

Sincerely yours (and still hoping for a Spoiler miniseries),

Caitlin.

(Seriously, I’ll even write it myself. For free. And draw it!) (Hey, what about a Batgirl/Spoiler ongoing?) (Okay, I’ll stop. Thanks again for listening to me ramble.)

---

Think that should do it?

I would be willing to write a Spoiler miniseries for free.

I WOULD. And it would be EPIC. I would put my heart and soul into it and love and...

PICK ME, DC! : P

Soooo..

I have recently been inducted into the National Honors Society.

Yet one thing concerns me.

I have a mandatory meeting there on MAY 21st!

Think, what is important about this date? That's right, it's when Robin #174 comes out!

...No, I can't wait a half hour to get the comic, are you kidding me? This is VITAL! I will barely be able to make it through school! And if I get the comic late, I might not the scans on scans_daily before someone else does!

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS?

...Okay, really this does distress me a little. So I came up with a PLAN. I will make Mom get me the comic(s...but do the rest of them REALLY matter?) during the day. I'm sure she has nothing better to do on her day off. I may have to bribe her to do it, but this is the price we pay. And I will only stay 15 minutes at that damn meeting. It's going to be boring anyway. Then I will run out, get the comic, and come STRAIGHT home.

BRILLIANT!

Ahem, well with that solved...other news in the land of me is my SAT is the day after tommorrow. Yaaay. The party never stops.

But enough about that. On to reviews!

...I just have two, because even though I came a week late, I could not get BOP (By the way, the induction was yesterday...ohmygod. The NHS is obsessed with Wednesdays. Maybe every meeting will be a Wednesday. WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ME? DAMN YOU, NEED TO LOOK GOOD ON MY COLLEGE APPLICATION!) So just Blue Beetle and TTYO.

Blue Beetle #26

Hm. I remember a lot more from Spanish II than I expected. Actually, it was a bit annoying, since I'd get stuck on a word I KNEW I learned, and get frustrated I didn't remember it. Eventually I got impatient and flipped to the back. The story was fairly meh. Not much to it.  The Parasite explaining all the powers he stole as he attacked Jaime was rather awkward dialog. WE KNOW THE POSSE'S POWERS, K.

However, Grandmother Reyes is simply awesome. I think the Reyes family must carry a badass gene, because Jaime's immediate family rock so hard. I love how supportive they are of him!

And the "I missed you too" line Jaime had to the scarab was adorable.

But why was the scarab using scarab speak? It can speak English now!

3.5/5

Teen Titans Year One #4

Not as good as the last three. The art remains adorable and I love Alfred sneaking up on Dick with a bag lunch and saying basically that he should screw Batman's orders. And Aqualad's attempt at banter.

But, okay. Robin's fantastic. He is teh best leader. The Bat Family radiates awesome. Other superheroes can never live up to the high standard they set. ONE PUNCH POWERS. We get it. Can we move on now? Hopefully the next issue will be less Robin-centric. I missed the team interaction.

This remains the best Titans title out currently though (not including TTG)

4/5

Ooh! Dinnertime!

*gestures silently at link*

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/5195988.html#cutid1

...YES!

And yet, I am strangely hesitant. There is no way this is not our girl, right? And Chuck Dixon wouldn't let anything happen to her, right?

But still, I am fearful.

DC has broken me. I cannot accept it's gifts for fear they will blow up in my face.

Damn you, DC!

...but I'll try to be happy for now. Yay! *huggles issue*

In-ter-resting...

Okay, I've been buying a lot of comics lately with tons of interesting stuff happening but haven't reviewed them.

SO NOW I WILL.

Last week:

Teen Titans Year One #3:

Man, I am still amazed that a comic this cute and funny and generally JOY FILLED, yet not aimed at three year olds,  got through DC's angst radar. Aqualad continues to be freakin' adorable and awesome, against all logic. Wonder Girl is really kickass and she has the power of super tears that smite her friends! (And how hilarious was Aqualad randomly drinking her tears?) Kid Flash is just distilled awesome in a can (I love when in an attempt to show Robin HE has cool stuff too, he randomly zooms home and grabs his TURTLE, doubtless the new team mascot)

In fact, generally awesome moment's list:

-Aqualad tasting Wonder Girl's super-tears with a curious expression
-Robin giving WG a handkerchief with LITTLE YELLOW BATS monogrammed on it
-Kid Flash and his turtle
-Aqualad jumping up and down and clapping when Robin tells him to go with KF
-Kid Flash and Aqualad's dialogue while they sort of hide behind a statue and watch Robin sneak up on Wonder Woman

KF: Take that, Wonder Woman!
Aqualad: Robin's COOL!

Then when she throws a pillar at them and KF pushes Aqualad out of the way

KF: I just saved your butt! What were you going to do, commandeer a water fountain?
Aqualad: Oh, like going fast is all that!

-Aqualad's high pitched girly scream for the issue....when Batman just LOOKS at him.

A couple problems I had:

Wow, Wonder Woman went down easy. I guess it's the typical mind-controlled-heroes-can't-use-powers-right since it's the same with Flash and Green Arrow and um, Aquaman. But Batman, of course, was this huge problem. Because, you know, despite being up against a girl with the strength, speed and stamina of ten thousand people and someone who can run at lightspeed...a arrow guy....um, underwater guy...and his own sidekick...Batman will still win. Because he is invincible somehow. But I can fanwank that the antithesis somehow focused extra power into him now that the other heroes were unconcious...and that when KF bashed into Batman's arm it was because he was actively slowing down, trying NOT to take Batman's arm off because that wouldn't be nice, and slowed down too much...

Other problem was the random Batdickery to poor Robin despite the mind control being lifted. But I think that might be a plot point, since the solicit for the next issue says Robin is missing, so KF attempts to take over the leader post (hilarity ensues, I'm sure) Maybe Batman's still under the mind control and they have to rescue Robin! That would be so cool! Anyway, mostly this book was a LOT of fun, and I adore the art, and can't wait for the next issue. Amy Wolfram has managed to inject the same amount of fun and superhero-y goodness here she did to her episodes of the TT animated show. Karl Keshl is a god.

4.5/5

Raven #1

It was suprisingly decent. I didn't mind Damion Scott's art as much as I thought, it seemed to suit the feel of the book better than I imagined. The writing was okay as well. It was nothing spectacular or groundbreaking, and I've never liked Comics!Raven as much as I do Animated!Raven, but the mystery seems interesting enough, so I think I'll pick up the next issue and see where this goes.

3.5/5

Supergirl #25

Weird. Even the solicit for the next issue in the back said "Wow, that was weird!" So at least it was on purpose. I share the same complaints with others that Kara really needs to get herself a decent supporting cast and stable status quo before we go all time-traveling dystopian future. We still don't know who Kara IS, and maybe that's what this arc is trying to say. Maybe all this will end with her realizing she's different for Superman, and that she needs to be stable. I dunno. I'll stick around. But I think at this point, Supergirl would benefit from a relaunch, and some serious retooling.

3/5

Booster Gold #7

Good, as usual. I love the interaction between Beetle and Booster, it feels so...at home. Though I do wonder, if OMACS are so powerful, how did they not kill Mike and Ted with that first blast? Why stun? I wish I'd read more JLI so I could get more of the references (I will someday, don't worry) but I'd read a whole issue of Booster being attacked by Power Girl's kitty.

4.5/5

Wonder Woman #18

Wonder Woman decided to go out with Nemesis. And then the internet exploded.

However, Gail Simone has said over on Scans_daily said she realizes Diana would never get with Nemesis in his current idiotic form, and this is all part of some bigger thing. Simone is a master of the bait and switch, she's been known to make you expect horrible mischaracterization, and then come back completely awesoming you with character development and cool plots- she did this a lot in Birds of Prey, with Dinah's kidnapping, Oracle firing Dinah, ect. So I'm inclined to trust her when she says this will lead to something cool that will explain everything, and I can't wait to see what it is.

And other than that, this issue was amazing. Even the way Diana HANDLED that particular scene was cool, with the Amazonian ritual with shows the Amazon's veiws on love (Yes, there are thorns), her little inner monologue while she kicked Khund ass, Khund girl's fangirling over her (who WOULDN'T??), the statue and Etta Candy. Etta Candy imagines to be equal parts hilarious and cool, like she was in the 40's. And I love the throwback line on the last page, that made my day. This WAS Diana.

Wasn't too fond of the art, someone on scans_daily put it best, Diana looked like a willowy teenager, and Etta still isn't overweight enough. But it was competent and no Wonder thong, and Lopresti will be on soon anyway, SO...

5/5

Gotham Underground #6

I decided to keep buying. And it's good, too, because there was a VERY interesting development on the last page. Leslie Thompkins returns! Well, maybe, she could be a hallucination, but why Dick would hallucinate Leslie when he was shot, I don't know. But, does this mean character redemption? Another clue towards the theory that Leslie faked Spoiler's death? I hope so!

And Spoiler made a few appearances, no news on who she is, other than she wasn't very talkative (which isn't like Steph, but if she's undercover...)

And Oracle still managed to locate Bruce and save him for a LAPTOP at STARBUCKS. Yay. That Babs, she adapts.

Also, I've only read the Vigilante's debut in the 80's Teen Titans and those two issues by Alan Moore where there was a sexually abused little girl and it was sad, but while he certainly has no problem shooting criminals, it seems OOC for the one I read about to randomly shoot someone who he believes to be two bit thugs without getting the story. But hey, who cares about consistancy?

Though there's irony that he shot Dick, since his first appearance EVAR had Dick (Robin at the time) lecturing him on why he shouldn't shoot people...and then the mobster Vigilante was SUPPOSED to be shooting pulled a gun and shot at Robin, and Vigilante has to push Dick out of the way...and that Dick sort of inspired Vigilante to be a, uh, vigilante in the first place.

But, Leslie Thompkins! I'm intrigued!


3/5

And I got in the mail:

Teen Titans Go #52

A typical, decent story. Nothing too interesting accept some nice name dropping. We got this kid stealing Kid Flash's powers and becoming...dundundun....JESSE QUICK!  I would have preferred Impulse to be name dropped instead, that would have been cool, since it doesn't make since anyway since Jesse is a girl and Robby (the power stealer) you know, wasn't. We also got Lagoon Boy (yay!), Power Boy (boo) and Changling.  But the best name the power stealing kid took on? When he stole Robin's abiities (I'm not sure how that works, I mean, it's NOT a power! Can this kid steal people's piano playing skills as well?) and became...THE PROTECTOR! Who's the Protector? Well a LOOOONNNG time ago when I was looking around Titans Tower. com (I had JUST gotten into the animated Titans) I saw this.



1983 saw the publication of a very special Teen Titans book. It made its debut, not on newsstands, but as part of a kit distributed to schools around the country. The kit was co-produced by DC Comics, Inc., and the Keebler Company for use in President Reagan's drug awareness campaign. Its goal was to inform schoolchildren...

One problem cropped up with the book as Wolfman and Titans artist George Pérez began work on it: Robin, the leader of The Teen Titans, couldn't be used. "This book was being sponsored by Keebler, and Robin was already licensed by Nabisco. So I came up with a new character, The Protector. We already had the art done, so Dave Manak did all the corrections to turn Robin into The Protector. He looks pretty much as I envisioned him, except where his costume is purple, I had originally wanted black."

Ha ha. So yay, I got an obscure geek reference! It would have been great if the kid had been able to randomly shout "Don't do drugs!" or something, but I assume they're not allowed to mention drugs in the Johnny DC line. But still, that was fun.

Thas 'bout it. Got some other things to talk about, but I'll blog about that later

This. This...



ROBIN/SPOILER SPECIAL #1
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Rafael Albuquerque and Victor Ibáñez
Cover by Albuquerque and Cris Peter
From the rooftops in Robin to Gotham Underground, Spoiler’s identity has remained a mystery — until now. All is revealed in this special when Robin and Spoiler team up to take down a kidnapping ring, hit up an illegal warehouse party and finish Tim’s algebra homework; just another day in the life of a teenaged vigilante super-hero! Plus, even more Robin doesn’t know: Spoiler’s secret identity in another country, in another life - one she can never leave behind.
On sale June 4 • 48 pg, FC, $3.99 US


Chuck Dixon. Rafael Albuquerque. Robin. Spoiler. Special. And it really sounds like it's Steph. I know, I know DC has pulled this bait-and- switch sort of thing before, but, the appearance of Leslie Thompkins in the last Gotham Underground and the tone of the solicit makes it seem really likely. And this is Chuck Dixon, he created Steph, I trust him to bring her back to us.

This makes me so happy. I'm going to buy a bazillion copies. I swear. Hey, maybe if it sells well enough it will be an ongoing!

Yeah, I know I forgot to comment on comics last week and I should comment on some this week...I'll do it tommorrow!

But God, I'm so excited.

So, due to having dropped Teen Titans (enough is enough) and the fact the only store I can get TTG from has moved ridiculously far away (I'll just wait for my subscription. Sigh, it's ending soon anyway) I only got Blue Beetle this week, and I got it late, on Friday, because of snow in our area. (It was minimal, but the comic store was closed anyway for some reason)

Needless to say, it was awesome. Everyone in this issue was a complete badass. Jaime, who beat up the Reach despite being powerless, because he had the forethought to have the Scarab infodump a buncha code in his head before it was *sob* killed. He also got a cool outfit and was amazing and snarky as usual ("Pants. Then spaceship. In that order." Oh, Jaime.) In the end he got captured, but typed in some mysterious code to the computer or something, I'm not sure how that's going to work out and then...Khaji Da!  I guess this will jumpstart the scarab or something. Whatever it is, it will be unbelievably cool. Then, there was Traci 13, who saved the Reyes, and bought cookies for good measure. She also unleashed a deadly bee weapon. BEES. MY GOD. (I didn't get the Amazons Attack reference when I read it, but now that fellow Internets folk have pointed it out to me.) Mr. and Mrs. Reyes, officially the most awesome comic book parents ever...and of course the Posse and Peacemaker and La Dama showed up for the throwdown with Pulp Fiction references ahoy.

Seriously, I don't want John Rogers to leave this comic, even for a little while. Please hurry back.

5/5 of course.

But there was some bad news a few days back, that Adam Beechen was writing the Batgirl mini. What the fuck, DC? The mind, she boggles. Putting a writer who is highly discredited for ruining a character on a mini that's supposed to bring the character back to her original glory is a REALLY STUPID business move. Beechen has already proven he can't write Cass even not under editorial mandate, with Titans East and really randomly shoehorning her in that random issue of Robin. HE CANNOT WRITE CASS.

I've calmed down since the news was first given, and our plan over at Superdickery for this to buy the heck outta the first issue and if it sucks (which is, let's face it, almost a given. I'm TRYING to hope a miracle will happen, BUT...) stop, and write DC saying why. That way DC will see the character has a fanbase, but that putting Beechen on the mini was a mistake. HELLO CAPTAIN OBVIOUS, but, hey.

Still, the missed possibilites make me ache. Kelly Puckett, Cass's creator is working at DC RIGHT NOW. A mini by him would be AWESOME, and I'd trust it to bring Cass back in the spotlight. Maybe he didn't want to get near the mess of OYL. Can't blame him.

Well, at least we have Cass in BatO, where she's being written reasonably well. She's good again, and I don't think that will change. *knocks on wood*

Well, enough babbling. I'll sign off.

First off, there's been talk of a "Draw Oracle" meme. It hasn't really gotten off the ground and I'm not sure if it ever will, but here's my pathetic attempt at a sketch of Babs anyway. Eh.




She's, um, supposed to be holding her escrima sticks.


Next, Teen Titans Year One #2 came out today! And, damn, once again it was adorable. I loved Aqualad. Yes, I'll say it again, those three words that it didn't seem possible could appear in a sentence: I love Aqualad. In fact, I loved all of them.  Karl's art is the cutest thing ever, and Amy Wolfram's cute and funny dialog compliments it perfectly. This comic is pure fun, and fun in comics are too sadly lacking these days. Right ,Garth?



...

5/5

Supergirl #25

This was pretty decent. I like this Supergirl, who helps people even if they are jerks and decides she's going to cure brain cancer. You go, Supergirl! Save that little boy! It was nothing spectacular, but I'm pleased with it enough to keep picking the book up. We have to support Kara acting like a decent human being and hero...

3.5/5

Oh, and Tony Bedard is going to write BoP! YES! McKeever hasn't been impressing me at all, but I liked Tony's fill in issues, as well as the work he did on Supergirl. And the guy deserves an ongoing after being  yanked around by DC so much! I'm glad the future looks bright for one of my favorite books again.

So, over at Inside Out, a column on Girl Wonder, Rachel asked us crazy feminists what Wonder Woman means to us. A bit in a hurry, I posted this:

"It's interesting for me...I mean, I didn't really care about her much until I read Greg Rucka's run, and then I fell in love with her, but even before that, I liked her. I mean, a lot of it has to do with her being THE superheroine of course, the most prominent one and the one who is the most unapologetically feminist... the concept that girls would look up to a woman who is ready to kick ass if need be- is a warrior- but at the same time strives for equality and is truly on a diplomatic mission. Someone who is wise, fearless and a true leader. Out of all the women in comics, Wonder Woman is a LEADER. And a good one, as well, a better one than Batman and sometimes better than Superman....


"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power," -this quote from Marston always kind of got me (the rest of it's a little iffy, but whatever) because that's what Wonder Woman is about. Girls DON'T want to be girls if they don't have an archetype that shows the best of what superheroines can be...and she fights in a bathing suit yeah, but she still has a MESSAGE....

Uh, I gotta go, damn, maybe I'll finish this later. Just, Diana rocks, and I also like the Greek Mythology aspect, because I'm a total mythology junkie, and I really love seeing that incorporated into comics."

The more I thought about it, the more complicated my thoughts got. I mean, I LOVE Wonder Woman. I fangirl her. She roxxors my soxxors. But when I think of WHY...I keep going back to certain quotes, like that Marston one. Things people have said about Wondy that make me go "YES. That's why Diana is cool."

Shall we?

Much information can be gleaned from the letters pages of a comic. The original Golden Age Wonder Woman comics had no letters pages, but as late as the early 1960s, when Robert Kanigher was writing and editing the book, the letters page reveals the demographics of his readers. The April, 1962 issue contained letters from two girls and one boy, the May, 1963 issue had letters from five girls, and the October, 1964 letters page was another all-girl affair, with letters from five girls. Judging from their letters, the writers were all young, and they wrote to Wonder Woman herself, rather than to the writer or editor (in this case, the same person), as later, older male fans would do. In her letter from the 1963 issue, Linda Parson, from White Castle, La., wishes to actually visit Paradise Island:

When another reader begged you to take her to Paradise Island with you, you answered that Paradise Island is imaginary. Well, how about taking me on an imaginary trip there?

-This is a quote from the a paper over at Girl Wonder, called "Wonder Woman: Lesbian or Dyke?" And it always breaks my heart, like the "I look a lot like Robin if you close your eyes" quote from another little girl back in the day. I get tears in my eyes thinking about them, honestly. I want to hug Linda Parson, I want to say "YES, you can go to Paradise Island and learn how to be strong and not always have boys telling you "You can't do this, you can't be strong..." YES, you can go there and play and fight and be yourself, be all you can be!" That's what the Amazon's are to me. I'm not saying the world would be better if it was an island of all women, I just imagining being a little girl, in the 1960's, wanting SO BADLY to go to a place where you didn't have to deal with that crap. Where you could be strong.

Sometimes I want to go to Themyscria just like that girl. Especially when I was younger, I longed for a place where no old man could leer at me, where my Dad wouldn't give me CONSTANT LECTURES on how not to get raped, where I could run my mouth about feminist theory without some guy making a stupid joke about it (that happened to me a lot in sixth grade. Eventually I learned it wasn't worth talking about around those teenage boys)

To me, Themyscria, Paradise Island, Wonder Woman...that's what she's about. What she, they should be about. Just...that place where that little girl in the '60's would give anywhere to go. So she could be strong without anybody trying to stop her.

Then of course, there's this quote by Gail Simone, She Who Is Awesome:

 "The book is about the best goddamned warrior planet Earth has ever known, and she happens to carry a mystical arsenal around just for the hell of it.

If a writer can’t make that interesting and fun, they really shouldn’t be writing superheroes.

There are layers upon layers of the character, and we’ll get to them all. But let’s just make it very clear that Diana is the premiere asskicker in the DCU, period. Batman and Superman have other things that make them special. Diana is the one who occasionally carries an axe if someone gives her lip.

This is actually in my first issue, but the quote is, “When a giant robot attacks Metropolis, send Superman. An alien attack? Get Green Lantern. When a car is hijacked by an escaped loony, turn on the bat signal, by all means. But if an ARMY shows up on your doorstep, that’s when you call in Wonder Woman.

Simple."

This is Wonder Woman. She is the premiere superheroine who will kick you ass. Unapologetically. She was created to be a feminist icon, that's why she is one.

She is the warrior of the DCU. Superman isn't a warrior. He's a savior, he stands for truth and justice. Batman isn't a warrior. He's a dark avenger of the night. Wonder Woman is a a warrior, plain and simple, and always has been. A warrior and a diplomat. And she's willing to kill if neccesary (even before Maxwell Lord) which I approve of. She doesn't like it, she's compassionate, but she's not stupid enough to trade the lives of thousands of innocents for the life of one messed up evil being/person. And that is great, because letting the Joker run free is bullshit.

She is also this:



Wonder Woman isn't perfect. She was a conduit for her creators bondage fetish. She's been mangled by editorial so many times it's ridiculous *coughAmazonsAttackcough* She's been mariginilized and written horribly. She was created by a man and is a product of a male dominated culture. And she fights crime in panties.

But really, that's WHY she is a feminist icon. She's changed, and grown, been beat down and twisted, but always gotten up and dusted herself off again. Like feminism itself, like womankind itself. Flawed, sexualized, marginalized, she is an important part of pop culture... and a lot of times, of the best it can be.

I close on this quote from WW 16:

Tolifhar: "Majesty, look. A  golden eagle, hovering above. Does he wait for us to die?

Wonder Woman: She, Tolifhar. I believe it's a she. And I think she wants us to live."

Back from vacation and got some comics I can review. Some are horrifically aggrivating! Some are unrepentantly awesome! ALL HAVE WORDS AND PICTURES!

Blue Beetle #22

Dear GOD. Can this comic GET anymore awesome??? It seems impossible. Jaime yelling at people for not being able to outrun lava that goes three inches and hour, then feeling guilty and confessing his problems to their befuddled ears, Peacemaker NOT DEAD and immediately thinking aliens are attacking him and Mrs. Reyes stabbing him with a BIG NEEDLE! Dani Garret and Jaime rock Ted Kord's  bug and Dani warning Jaime never to post a file on the 'net that just says "slash" as you'll get interesting responses...

And that was just the stuff in the PREVIEWS. What follows is one of the most tragic characters I've seen introduced in a while and the most diabolic alien plots I've seen in a while to which Dani Garret's response is simply "Holy %$@#!" and by the end, Jaime is so ready to kick some ASS that I'm genuinely anticipating the next issue.

It's really a shame this series doesn't sell well. It's funny and well plotted and everything a comic should be.

5/5

Gotham Underground #3

Someone in a Spoiler costume attacks Tim and Oracle while invisible! And...well, I'll be honest and say I don't really care about the rest. I just wanna see what happens with this person-who-could-be-Steph. Why is she invisible? Why would Steph attack Babs and Tim, other than to get revenge on Babs for using her autopsy photos to scare young girls and Tim for forgetting she existed? We shall see. If it's not Steph, I'm dropping after next ish. It's not a bad book, but not enough to buy sans-Spoiler.

3/5

Teen Titans #54

What the holy hell none of that made sense at all. There was nothing interesting just random nonsense. It was like this:


Evil!Cassie: The reason Supergirl is good in the future is not because she's a good person at all, but a petty bitch who got pissed when you dumped her when you got a Kryptonian who didn't whine as much and had sex with you!
Evil!Conner: Yo!
Cassie: Oh, Evil!Conner, remember that night we has sex just before you died? It was amazing, wasn't it? We didn't even need condoms!
Evil!Conner: ....
Cassie: He doesn't remember our fabulous sex! OMG ME, YOU LYING BITCH!
Bat!Tim: Look how incredibly buff you are in the future Tim. It must be this way.
Tim: Yeah...
Cassie: NO TIM CONNER'S A CLONE HE DOESN'T REMEMBER MY FABULOUS SEX WITH HIM! OR YOURS! *makes out with Tim*
Evil!Conner: NOOOOO!!!!
Bat!Tim: Conner! My best friend betrays me by trying to kill my past self! Good thing I have this handy kryptonite gun...sooo much better than Bruce's sissy ring.
Luthor: AGH MUST MAINTAIN FUTURE WHERE I RULE
Bat!Tim: Wait, I've changed my mind for some reason! I don't want to maintain this future after all!
*Everyone disappears*
Jaime:...What the hell, I just come to visit you guys and all of the sudden all this crap I don't understand happens!
Supergirl: We should fight Sinestro!
Jaime: But I just did that...
*Eight years later*
Tim: I AM INEXPLICABLY EVIL! ALSO SCORING WITH MISS MARTIAN AND CASSIE! I AM SUCH A PIMP!
Luthor: Mwahahaha this was all part of my master plan!
Me: Wait, wha-?
Tim: And I continue my cloning rampage! Conner! Bart! Two random black haired girls!
Me: What about Stephanie?
Tim: Stop bothering me with details.

So yeah. I'll give this book two more issues, if it doesn't get better I'm dropping it.

1/5

Teen Titans Go! #50

Ah, much less annoying. The Private Hive issue is resolved, and I thought his and Robin's conversation about how Hive was using those poor homeless kids like Brother Blood used him and he ruined his chance to be better to be rather poignant.

Also, Robin has chicken pox! And infects Private Hive! And wears a bathrobe that's colored like his costume! And uses the rope in his bathrobe to subdue Private Hive! That is hilarious.

In the end, Robin decides to establish new Titans bases, and elects Wonder Girl, Red Star and Bushido to lead these along with him and Bumblebee. I really like that he picked Wonder Girl, who is a pretty obvious choice to co lead. Red Star and Bushido are good fits too. He also suggests recruiting other, and we see pictures of heroes, one of which is definitely Flamebird, the other might be Lilith and one is...King Snake...? There's another girl too.

All in all, a very solid issue and I'm glad we saved TTG. Can't wait for the next issue! Terra origin and Geo-force, WHOO!

Though, Robin talking to the reader directly in the last panel of this ish freaked me out. He was turned away from the others, so clearly has either finally cracked up and is talking to himself, or has, using his amazing detective skills, discovered the fourth wall. Either way, I'm frightened.

4.5/5

Yesterday I got Birds of Prey and Batman and the Outisiders.

That means reviews!


( Behind the cut )

SO. Wednesday tomorrow, which means I shall be getting Batman and the Outsiders and Birds of Prey. And maybe Supergirl, since I didn't get it when it actually came out. So I figure I might try doing comic reviews here, see where it takes me. Last Wednesday I got Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, Booster Gold and the Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood trade paperback.

Wonder Woman #15

This was fantastic. #14 was good, but it didn't really wow me. But this issue convinced me that Gail and Diana are a match made in Olympus. Gail seems to capture that "essence" that is Diana- incredibly compassionate, but also slightly regal as well as determined, straight foward, down to earth and in love with kicking ass. Also, Hyppolita (sp?) looks to be on her road to redemption, not to mention totally BADASS. I love how she cut her hair before going into battle and her cool armor and her prayer to Athena "Grant me the wisdom to avoid further bloodshed...and forgiveness for my enemies...but failing that, goddess...at least grant me the gift of good aim." Also, the GORILLAS! The inclusion of the Polynesian god is great, not only because it's nice to see a lesser known mythology but because he was HOT. The plot with Diana's birth continues to be intriguing, and well as the character Alkyone (which is just a cool name, as well) Finally, Wonder Woman is as it should be: awesome.

5/5

Wonder Girl #4:

Was not as good as #3 which was fantastic (Cassie told Cissie and Anita she was FINALLY OVER CONNER (YES GOOD RIDDANCE MOPEY CASSIE) and kneed Hercules in the groin AND used her earrings as weapons. Doesn't get much better than that) but still really good. I still don't like the fact Cassie's "warrior" outfit has heels, but I love this snarky, determined Cassie who uses strategy and fighting skills and has a brain! Really, Young Justice fans should get this mini, because it brings back great memories. And for the capper? EMPRESS AND ARROWETTE are going to help Cassie get her mom back! And this is J Torres, so don't worry about anything bad happening to them. Can't wait 'till number 5.

4.5/5

Booster Gold #5

Hm. Well, I liked it less than the first four issues. I'm kind of torn about the use of Babs between "geez, she was just...a prop..." to "well, it wasn't as bad as everyone's making it out to be and the books about BOOSTER not Babs..." Both sides have a point. And I've had a pretty easy time understanding Booster's time travel until Rip's "solidified time" speech? Wha? It makes no sense. But I'm trying not to think about it to much. And the last page: JAIME! DAN! SOME OTHER GUY! Ted may have a chance of coming back yet!

3.5/5

Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood.

This was amazing. Well, the Batgirl parts were. The Robin parts sucked, but this was back when Willingham was writing and Damion Scott was drawing, so what do you expect. But the Batgirl parts...so much squee. And win. From the very start Cass trying to figure out the difference between journal and diary and talking about how Nightwing acted out the parts to Cinderella to her and made her laugh? (I would have liked to see that) to her little eulogy on Stephanie (it broke my heart) to the dynamics between her and Tim...it was a clear clash of personalities and ideals there (I like Tim's speech on how Batman's mission is an ideal...but not reality and we can't force reality to conform to that ideal. THAT is one hell of a well written Tim: very smart, down to earth and a little geek who know what's up) but they found a common ground. And of course, there was just amazing dialougue. My personal favorites:

Tim: blablabla...you'll never be Batman!
Cass: And you...talk too much. *kicks him in the face*

The Penguin:...like that hot little blonde number who was traipsing around as Robin ever so briefly. What happened to her? She get killed too? Oh, why do the girls always meet such tragic-
*Cass headbutts him*

(That is just pure win, there, on textual and metatextual levels)

*Cass explains how she and her father used to play "two for flinching"...with bullets.*
Tim: Whoa...that's horrible.
Cass: It's nothing. Stephanie and I used to laugh about...wait...I...Tim...I'm so stupid...
Tim: You're not stupid. Want tea?

Seriously, this book, as well as being awesome Cass/Tim action, provides the best examination on Steph's death that she ever got. I love it so.

5/5 for the Batgirl parts.

Well, that's it! I can't wait to see Cass in Batman and the Outsiders tomorrow. There may be hope for DC yet!

Bye!

Wow, someone actually responded to one of my posts! This makes me think I might actually use this blog, so I need an introductory post so anybody who reads this knows who the hell I am.

I am a sixteen year old girl who loves comics. I richochet from being overly enthusiastic to deeply cynical. I do mainly DC, I guess cuz it was cartoon based on a DC comic that got me into it. I do read Runaways and occasionally Young Avengers though.

Here's what my longbox looks like in fact:

Batgirl (EVERYthing...well, almost. I've got all the trades and two Puckett issues not included in the trades, and some Horrocks stuff, as well as Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood)
Birds of Prey (All Gail's stuff and some of Dixon. Still buying it. I miss Gail though)
Blue Beetle (All. Yaaaay Jaime!)
Booster Gold
Impulse (All of it. Seriously, I love(d) Bart.)
Robin (All of it, up until Steph died. Not so much stopped reading because of that, though it was a factor, but because of major drop in quality that coincidentally happened when Tim got, I don't know, HIS ENTIRE SUPPORTING CAST killed off. WILL be picking it up again when Dixon come back on in January...can't wait!)
Supergirl (The Peter David version, nearly all of it now, and the issues in the current series after Kelly left. You know, when it got readable)
The New Teen Titans (You know, 80's version? A very sizable chunk of it)
The current Teen Titans (All of it. Even the complete crap *coughTitansEastAdamBeechencough*
Teen Titans Go! (All of it. SO. MUCH. LOVE)
The Wonder Girl miniseries (Buy it, it's good!)
Wonder Woman (I read all of Rucka's run in the library, what I've got in the box are the fill ins J. Torres did and then the issues Gail's currently putting out of course)
Young Justice (Nearly all of it now, hooray!)

There's easily thousands of dollars worth of comics in my room, yeah.  And I'm picking up Batman and the Outsiders now that Cassandra's showed up.

So. Let's see. Out of this I'm currently still picking uppppp...

Batman and the Outsiders
Birds of Prey
Blue Beetle
Booster Gold
Robin come January...
Supergirl
Teen Titans
Teen Titans Go!
Wonder Girl
Wonder Woman

Ooooh, forgot Gotham Underground! Yeah, now mysterious Spoiler like person has showed up, that too!

So if I ever start reviewing comics, this is what you can expect.

So, I am a major freaking fangirl of THESE CHARACTERS: Stephanie Brown (elaborated on in the last post), Cassandra Cain, Jaime Reyes, Linda Danvers (miss her...), Wonder Woman, all the animated Titans, Babs Gordon...and I guess Micheal Carter and Ted Kord.

Hee, ya mighta noticed I like the underdog.

ANYWAY.

Just two links and I'll stop.

I've done some random badly draw cartoons that Justin Carr was kind enough to include on his deviantart archive for CassCult (they get better as you go on.)

http://cass-cult.deviantart.com/art/Nevermore2Toons-No-1-68008111

My Steph wiki:


http://stephaniebrown.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page


Okay, signing off. Sorry for babbling, I won't usually be like this.

My God, I need to vent. Then I remembered I have this blog. That I've never posted in. So nobody will read this, but it will be good therapy.

I'm sure a lot of people are sick of hearing about Stephanie Brown. But I don't need to vent about how completely she got screwed over, so don't worry. I'm actually optimistic this might be fixed soon, with the hints she might be ressurrected...but this IS DC Comics, destroyer of dreams, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up. But God, I miss her. She's one of my favorite characters ever.

I first encountered Spoiler when I was getting into comics. It was long (I dunno, a year? Two? Never checked the date on "War Games") after she was killed, and I'd heard about her through Girl Wonder. Browsing this brand new comics shop I discovered, I saw Spoiler on the cover of Robin #4 (THE SPOILER TURNS UP THE HEAT!!!") and I got it. Not only about my curiosity about this poor girl, but because I really like Robin. Y'know, any Robin. I got into comics through the Teen Titans cartoon, so I'd developed a certain attatchment to Robin.

The dialogue was wayyyy dated in the comic, which had been published in the early nineties, but I found myself interested in the character. She was snarky blonde girl, like me. Her costume was incredibly practical, something that impressed me.

So I got more Steph. And more and more and more. I now have nearly everything with Stephanie in it ever. Part of it is most likely rooting for the underdog. But a larger part of it is I could identify with her more than any character. All along, I knew how badly this girl had been screwed, which tainted the experience, but also gave me some sort of passion...

Stephanie was awesometastic in my eyes. She was incredibly, incredibly flawed. She made tons of mistakes. She didn't follow the rules. She thought it was perfectly okay to flirt with Tim while they were in mortal danger.

And nobody gave her a break. Nobody. Not Tim, not Black Canary, not Babs and certainly not Batman. She had to wade through all the bullshit they threw at her about "being to angry" "too inexperienced" "it's too dangerous" "not talented enough" and she kept coming back anyway. Nobody told her what to do. She didn't get the training Tim had, or the natural talent Cass had or the tons of money Batman had. She was the daughter of a criminal and she was fucking BROKE. Her mother worked night shifts as a nurse and was addicted to meds. In her first appearance she arrived at her house wearing a uniform from a fast food joint, meaning she had to work too. But that didn't stop her. She brought a costume from Radio Hut and went to stop her father from endangering others.

Everything was like that for her. She had to nag Tim forever until he finally decided to be her boyfriend. Sometimes she was very unorthodox. She took every oppurtunity available to make out with Tim, be it a near death situation or not. She flirted shamelessly. He was eventually won over by her sunny attitude and ability to drop kick people in the back of the head.

Did I mention the sunny attitude? Steph has a pretty tragic life. I'd say it was far worse than what Bruce had to deal with. She had to grow up flat broke, with a criminal for a father who abused her and her mother and her mom was either passive or high most of the time. Her dad brought over a freind who attempted to molest her once, but she bit him in the face and got the hell outta there before he could do anything. She was eleven at the time.

This didn't stop Steph from knowing right from wrong, and from defying her upbringing and being generally kickass. It also didn't make her emo. Stephanie was sarcastic and fun loving and generally cheerful and funny. She would make a snarky remark whenever Tim got too mopey and balanced out his serious nature. She wasn't sacharrine or Mary Sue-ish, no, this is the girl who got reprimanded for not taking things seriously and made mistakes all the time. Her upbringing was not without it's effects on her, she was very angry sometimes and didn't hold much stock in the Bat "no-killing rule" which caused her to butt heads with Tim and Bruce a lot. She could be serious. She got sad sometimes. But generally, she was an unstoppable force. She loved kicking ass and the adrenaline rush she got from it.

So there. My love letter to Stephanie Brown and why she's one of my favorite characters. What prompted this? Some random comment on some blog I was reading. I liked the blog, then all of the sudden it was ranting about how the person never liked Stephanie Brown. Which is fine. Except there was an icon that had her as Robin and words "dumb ass" painted on it. It's kind of pathetic something like that can hurt me, that I'm so attatched to a character, but yeah, it irked me. It was a person I found likable and funny saying this. I thought the icon was unneccesary, as well as the mention of "hive vagina". Funny, never knew I was part of one. Think it'd be smellier.

So anyway, enough whining. This is just a random rant about how Steph is awesome and I'm really attatched to her and hope she comes back. I'm so obsessed with her I made a site devoted to her, on the off chance anyone reads this, check it, it's pretty extensive, proving I have no life:

http://stephaniebrown.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

I'd better go.

Bye.