Now Aquaman is added to the list

As seen here. Will it ever be properly addressed? Unlikely. But for the person I saw online that argued there was nothing wrong with it? Well I have something to say to that.

Preview: Batman Annual #4

DC has made Alfred into a jackass and an idiot if he thinks this will work.

SPOILERS AHEAD

A new identity for Damian?

I mentioned this rumor before but would it work from a logical standpoint?

Other Things Batman Did

Since all he seems to do recently is kept secrets and manipulate I thought it was a good time to remember some things he did before the relaunch.

Green Lantern Dolls

For Sally.

Yes, these exist although they're 8". The Mego line was big back in the day but it was very selective. There was a resurgence of interest which gave us another Hal and a Kyle. Now Hal, Kyle, John and Guy all have their own figures in this Retro-Action DC Super Heroes line. But no Hal below because he already gets enough attention.

Got back into sewing

I don't do it much and I'm certainly not talented at it but it can be fun. It's relaxing...until you make a mistake. Even so I enjoy the process of creating something. Remember when I tried to make the Supernova and Goldstar costumes? I found them and their worse than I remember. I didn't use the right fabric for the colored sections (I just used what I already had) and it warped or stiffen those parts. Well I'm self taught so I had no concept of what I was doing.

I was going to make my own 12" figures since the DC lines never get around to making my favorite characters. They seem to favor the same select few and/or it cost too much. Besides sewing the biggest hinderance was finding heads that looked like they would work for the characters. Proper male heads are far harder to find than female. You'd think there would be plenty of young attractive male faces that'd work. Anyway I'm looking for materials so I'll see if I can come up with anything.

Out of curiosity what character would you like to see that hasn't had a 12" figure?

Event Dullness

In recent years it's been:

• Count of Owl/Night of Owls: I liked it okay.
• Death of the Family: ...I liked the first RHATO tie in. But mostly this was just a mess.
• Forever Evil: I think there were a few good moments but overall I couldn't help feeling bored.
• Convergence: A few good moments but a whole lot of meh.

So you can see why I'm hesitate to jump onto the event train again even if some of my favorite characters are involved.

Batman and Robin Eternal Prologue

Released today as a 8 page story although one of those pages is the cover for #1.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Happy Batman Day!

I'm working so who knows if I can actually get to a store later on. Still deals are up on DCs' digital store. Including a selection of graphic novels for $3.99 each. Some of which I already have, a couple I might get and others I have zero interest in. These deals are nice but I would have preferred a wider selection of characters and Batman related titles. It helps promote books if they actually include them in their promotional celebration.

There's a free comic and while I haven't read it yet I have to admit I'm disappointed. I thought it was preview pages for future issues and a short story. Instead it's a reprint of part 1 of Endgame and a 8 page BaRE prologue.

My feelings on Jason Todd and Tim Drake

I talked a bit about this when there was a controversy over them being on okay terms.

There's still some arguing over this but my feelings on it are simple. Canon is different now and given the attention DC is giving Dick/Damian if Jason wasn't close to Tim then Tim would barely have any interaction with the family. I'd say Roy is closer to Jason than Tim anyway so it's not like they have that best of buds vibes just yet.

DC has been showing them interact more to the point their new friendship is beginning to get noticed by readers. They talked in BE, for some reason Dick decided to reveal himself to both of them and they have been sharing information for some time. I like it and it's actually been built up better than any of his other interactions with the bat kids.

Grayson #12 Clarification

Someone asked for the identities of certain characters.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Grayson Interview

How this issue sets up Robin War. It didn't get quite as in depth as I was hoping for the choices in 12.

Batgirl in WAR

I remembered she's supposed to be in the new issue and was curious how her reaction would mesh with the Robin War event. I read spoilers and it just confuses me.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Grayson has returned

I haven't read the issue but I have seen the page with Damians' reaction.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Digital Batman Books

There's a some issues on sale for .99 cents although it feels a little uneven in terms of character selection. I was pleasantly surprised to see Cassandras' series. Later on their supposed to have graphic novels for $3.99 and Batman Days' BaRE book and I think a preview book (unless their the same one) free.

Roy Harpers' Behavior Part 3

It seems like Roy has calmed down a bit from #3 and might be ready to realize he's been too distracted lately.

Robin gets his revenge

I love how even Batman is shocked.

Golden Age Jerks

Judging by the covers all they did back then was mundane things or act dickish to Robin.

Superhero vs. Superhero

One of the old classics in comics that keeps coming back. Some might even say it's overused in events like Civil War. There's usually a disagreement, misunderstand or the villains force them to battle. Whether it's a good trope depends greatly on the writers execution. Most tend to turn these into a popularity contest (at least on forums) when other factors should be at play.

It varies whether I like these fights. They can be fun or a waste of time. If I'm honest I do kind of cringe when I hear about an impeding fight because my first thought is whether it will be written out of character. Whether or not a fight's even necessary for the story. In some cases you know what to expect which makes it pretty boring.

I think the only fights I ever looked forward to were Tim vs. Damian. Who I rooted for changed based on how it was written and their interaction is engaging. Now I don't think Damian should ever win against any of his adopted brothers but I could feel for him. I like that Tim actually calls Damian out on the crap he does. I can't say I'm excited by the prospect of anyone else fighting unless Bruce and a particular someone are humbled. I don't like the idea of some of the family going at it and some fights would be too predictable or biased for certain writers.

Is Superman patting his head?

Or ruffling his hair? Either way their not that well acquitted at this point.

Legends Jason Todd

Not even nearly getting killed by an angry hero hating mob stops him. This has a much happier ending than you'd expect.

What characters do you need to read about?

This is sort of in line with a question I asked awhile ago about what titles you'd keep. Are there any characters you must have a book (with good characterzations naturally) of ?

I've had a number of them over the years. When the last ongoing title I got from Marvel ended (MC 2 Spider-Girl) I lost a lot of interest in Marvel superheroes. I've only gotten Spider-Girl or Scarlet Spider related issues since (which are few) and otherwise don't care.

Bill Finger Finally Gets Credit

It's about time, Batman wouldn't be what it is today without Finger.

Booster Gold movie huh?

I keep seeing conflicting reports so I'm going to just go with the flow and not get too excited yet. It's funny though because Boosters' first series had him developing his own movie and comic book series. As always Booster was ahead of his time. I wonder if their link the Rip Hunter connection.

Why the scaly panties made no sense

Poor Jason got stuck with Dicks' costume and has to suffer for it.

A Blue Beetle/Booster Gold movie?

I haven't read this article yet but interesting, right?

Robin Year One and Batgirl Year One

After hearing a lot of hype for these stories I finally got around to reading them.

Jason gets through to Raven

Brother Blood has brainwashed Raven into thinking he's great and no one can snap her out of it. Except Jason when he shows her what BB did to her mother.

There's a lot of things I love about this simple moment. Jason is the one that decides to stay behind away from the fighting to look after Ravens' mom. Since we know what happens with his own mother it's heartbreaking. But what's really frustrating is that Geoff Johns later retcons the way things were. Saying that Raven warned Jason about his anger when he was one of the few that had it together during his Titan days. She owes him not the other way around!

Buy List

Another ongoing series ending.

Short Review: Doomed #4

Unfortunately with the series being canceled it means a lot of rushed storylines being condensed in the last three months.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Harley Quinn #20

After reading this I'm curious...why do people like Harley Quinn again? I was always pretty neutral towards her but at least she used to be likable. My sister enjoyed some of the older HQ issues prior to the relaunch so I have some idea how she used to act. Well besides the fact I watched all the animated Batman episodes and movies.

At least this has a Booster Gold cameo.

SPOILERS about the preview below.

WAR and their "leader"

Newsarama talks a little bit about the guy who organized the We Are Robin group.

Thoughts below.

How would you end your favorite series?

I remember awhile back there was this magazine question asked to creators. How they would end the series they were writing. Sometimes I think of what I'd do if the choice was up to me. Here are a few ideas I had.

DC Solicits for December

We learned of Robin War and a whole lot of cancelled titles. Let's see what else we can talk about.

MORE cancelled titles?!

This is just depressing. So now there are no GLs that aren't Hal Jordan with a title?

The new list of cancelled books

I wonder what the new books their replacing these with will be. I was expecting Doomed because it stars all new characters and an updated minor character. Still I wanted it to last longer. Hopefully Reiser and Roman can show up in RHA at some point.

What are you doing Alfred?

Just to see if I got all of this straight. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

SPOILERS AHEAD

What's canon for new Booster?

I was just thinking of all the retcons and wondering how much is intact.

Booster was the same Booster from preboot now he's not.

The JLI Annual ignored/retconned most of the JLI series.

The Futures End and Convergence tie ins retconned things in the Annual. Do the All Star Western cameos fit in anywhere?

At present all I'm sure about is that the FE and Convergence issues are canon. Things are confusing even with time travel, we don't need more retcons.

Arrogance ?

One of the myths often spread about Jason is that he's arrogant. In fact Winick himself has used to this idea in UTRH, it's one of the descriptions given to Pre-Red Hood Jason. It's not really accurate. There have been retcons after his death to make him look bad. (*1) None of the ones I read ever gave me the impression that he's more arrogant than anyone else in the family.                                          

DC Unleashes Robin War Solicits

And guess what? It's a bigger crossover than we thought. It's not just We Are Robin, RSOB and Gotham Academy. It's called Robin War for a reason.

SPOILER AHEAD

Red Hood/Arsenal #4

The guys end up in Gotham which means they have to deal with Robo-Bat. I'm not going to lie, I haven't been looking forward to this. I don't care for the Batman/Gordon concept and I'm not sure how that will go with him fighting our leads. Let's find out.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Someone else asks if Starfire is really dumb?

This only studies audience opinions and points out how the Starfire series doesn't feel like it continues from RHATO.

Not his costume

Once again we have another art mix up--unless DC really is deciding to switch Dick and Jasons' uniforms. This is Jason wearing Dicks' costume.

Recently Dick has been seen on the cover Titans Hunt wearing Jasons' costume. Come on people, get it right. It's really distracting and I hate to think Jason gets stuck with the worst uniform. The only thing right about the above image is the mask color, the yellow cape and the space between the shoulders/gloves. Dick was the one with the weird straps and the not-really-a-belt design that pointed to his crotch.

Donna abandons her leadership

She does so after she cracks under the stress and hands the responsibility of the team over to Robin.

Only this isn't Dick Grayson, it's Jason Todd who's on his very first mission with the team. The kid Donna keeps treating like Dick. It's a good issue with all the experienced members dealing with their own personal issues. The ridiculous nature of the Robin costume is even brought up.

The Tough Street Kid

Just look at how tiny he is.

 

You can just imagine Batman thinking over taking in another sidekick.

Art vs. Writing

I've heard far too many excuse terrible writing because the art was amazing. I've also seen people refuse to get a title because the art wasn't good enough. There's certainly a balance that needs to be met with comics since their a visual story. A lot has to be conveyed in gestures and expressions that give the characters more personality. Even so I can't continue to buy a series if the writing is bad. Story and characterization are key for me. I would prefer good art but I think I'm also more lenient than some on different styles.

New Teen Titans Vol. 2 #20

As I mentioned previously Dick and Donna got into a nasty fight. He stormed off and Donna decided to get a team of Titans together. Unfortunately everyone but the rookie of the team are all dealing with personal problems that throws them off their game. This is the atmosphere Jason Todd enters on his first mission with the Titans. I'm surprised more people don't talk about this issue especially the fact Jason learns something about Roy before Dick does.


OLD SPOILERS AHEAD

Batgirl Anniversary ?

It won't be as big as the 75th anniversay since Betty Kane became Batgirl in the early 60's but it'd be nice to have an event (with different writers) for Bette, Barbara, Cassandra and Stephanie. Maybe Kate and Kathy too. I'd have it focused on Bette and what her relationship with Kathy was like. Then build her up from there with the others getting sucked into the story. Unfortunately I think DC would have Barbara be the lead. I just want the original Bat-Girl to finally have the spotlight.

Tynion Interview for Batman and Robin Eternal

Because my concern for Cassandra is making me worried here's another interview.  Thoughts below.

Donna Troy vs. Nightwing

A.K.A. One of the times people forgot Dick can get nasty.

 

Will DC have Dick return to Nightwing or choose someone else?

This was the subject of some talk or at least who they think will use the ID next since Dick is a spy. I want him to return to the Nightwing persona especially since Cassandra Cain apparently won't be returning to her old IDs.

Does being associated with Batman limit story potential?

During Teen Titans there was some talk of Dick Grayson never being able to stand on his own if he remained Robin. He'd always be in the shadow of Batman. By becoming Nightwing Dick was able to mature and gain a bigger role in DCU. At one point he almost married Starfire and if he did a Nightwing series was going to launch from it. But the marriage plans fell through and editors wanted the character back in the bat books. For awhile his TT connections were downplayed much like his romance to Starfire in favor of bringing him back into the fold. Dick was noticbly the only original Titan than never settled down or had kids. In the present no one is allowed to even get married.

The relaunch has aged Dick down and while he isn't in the bat titles at the moment his past still plays a big role in his future. How this will be balanced once Titans Hunt is released should be interesting. Now let's assume that in a few years DC will allow marriage and kids to return...does anyone think any of Bruces' kids would be able to settle down? I don't. DC can be particular about their Batman brand and how the characters relate to him. They freaked out over how much Dick aged him and having one of his sons get married would unfortunately have the same results. 

Whether or not the characters can grow on their own outside Batmans' influence depends greatly on editors allowing change to happen.

Max Allan Collins "Second Chances" Writer Interview

Talks about writing Jason Todd as Robin and dealing with the mess of a DC reboot. Thoughts below.

Titans Hunt Interview

Which confirms it takes place in current canon and things won't be exactly the same.