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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 5, 2015 8:11:58 GMT -5
When Damian was killed in Batman INC I wrote this fic for Steph fans on the cbr boards, since she didn't exist at the time but had a very fun 'frenemy' relationship with the little assassin.
Stephanie swallowed as she listened to Tim speak on the other side of the phone line.
"The-there's no chance it's fake? No way he's gone off to Africa or something?"
"Fraid not." Tim replied. "This is as real as it gets."
Her hand shaking, Steph put down the phone. She turned around and walked slowly out of the kitchen. Unfortunately, her mother was in the living room.
"What's wrong?" Crystal asked. "You look white as a ghost."
"N-nothing." Steph said.
"Stephanie, what is it?"
"I said there's nothing wrong! Steph yelled. "Just leave me alone!"
She ran upstairs, leaving her mother unsure of how to respond.
Stephanie locked the door to her room and began to cry.
"Little twit. Always leaping before you look. Always biting off more than you can chew."
She rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. But they wouldn't stop.
"Then again, who am I to talk?"
Steph opened the drawer where she kept hidden her pictures of herself with the vigilantes she was closest to. Most were of her with either Tim, Cass, or Babs. But there was one of most of INC. She smiled at the image of herself smirking as she gave bunny ears to the scowling Robin from behind.
Now she wished she had at least one picture of just herself and Damian.
She never considered herself to be friends with him before. In fact, they couldn't stand each other. But they had reached something of an understanding. And she had felt so bad for him that she had made it one of her missions to teach him how to have fun.
'It's not fair." she said to herself. They all knew the risks. Contrary to what some believed about her, she knew them as well as anyone. But he was so young.
Stephanie closed the drawer. She couldn't talk to her mother about this. She couldn't reveal that Robin was dead, or that he had been eleven years old. Crystal already disapproved of the vigilante lifestyle. But it really sucked to not be able to talk to her own mother about a peer of hers dying.
Steph entered her closet and reached for the box on the top shelf that contained her costume. If Damian's death was affecting her this much, it must be truly crushing for his father and former partner Dick. Everyone would be in mourning.
Knowing Batman, he'd keep his feelings bottled up and push those he needed away. But if he was smarter this time and allowed others to try to comfort him, the least she could do was provide a shoulder to cry on.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 5, 2015 6:45:06 GMT -5
Nononononononononono. No threads about breasts or any other part of the human anatomy.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 5, 2015 6:40:14 GMT -5
Pretty much what it says. Pick a song or piece of music that comes to mind when you think of your favorite characters.
For Batman I chose the theme to Mask of the Phantasm. Kind of a copout going for something that is already a Batman theme, but this captures the feeling of Batman very well. Dark, but still heroic. And I'm a sucker for choirs, which the Danny Elfman theme doesn't have as much of.
My favorite character at Marvel is Magik. For her I chose Dracarys from Game of Throne. Her story is very dark, and she commands a large army of demons, so the military march vibe also fits. This theme basically says 'don't mess with me.'
Another Game of Thrones theme, this time for the Linda Danvers version of Supergirl. I think it fits for an angelic being.
More for the pre-flashpoint Stephanie Brown, since the current version doesn't have the same ambitions as before. As a more upbeat character she gets a more upbeat song. The lyrics can also refer to her being unusual in the bat-family and having to work for acceptance.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 5, 2015 2:00:55 GMT -5
The way I see it DC's problem since well before the reboot is that the editors that came in in the 2000s don't think like editors or writers. Didio particularly is a marketing person who has no skill in any other area. This focus on marketing over storytelling is what lead to Identity Crisis, the killing of Stephanie Brown and Jack Drake, the erasure of Linda Danvers, making the heroes hate each other, Amazons Attack, Countdown to Final Crisis, ect. Because the reboot wasn't accompanied by a significant change in who the editors are we ended up with idiocy like having 4 Robins in 5 years, making Barbara Batgirl again while keeping The Killing Joke as her defining story, forcing BQM to use an 'iconic' character in Smallville of all places instead of the character he wrote, the editors not caring about keeping the person writing Superman informed because who cares about that when Grant Morrison is on the other Superman book, ect.
As an idea I like Truth. The execution hasn't been there. I think Superman needs an Eternal-type story to focus on Superman's supporting cast, bring back some of the characters that have been lost since the triangle era, and reestablish Superman as someone who inspires others, including other heroes.
Not reading Batman anymore except for where Stephanie Brown appears.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 4, 2015 7:35:44 GMT -5
My favorite Iron Man armor was the neo-classic from the end of the Armor Wars storyarc, though I wish the silver centurion armor had been given more time before being blown up.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 4, 2015 7:27:33 GMT -5
I've heard of a few comic writers leaving to write for television. Very recently fans of Stephanie Brown were begging Brian Miller to come back, but really why should he? He's making several times as much money and has to put up with less bs like being forced to make Barbara Gordon Knightwing in Smallville because Didio was in a mood.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 4, 2015 3:16:09 GMT -5
Finished the season. Still don't care much for the fight scenes and find it too similar to Nolan's Batman in some of the 'mask' scences, but otherwise it was great. A good cast, probably the best interpretation of Fisk I've seen.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 3, 2015 2:59:44 GMT -5
Also-Diamond and other measures of physical copies sold don't take into account digital sales, which seems to be where most of the growth is coming from. People no longer have to go to specific kinds of stores to get their favorite comics.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 2, 2015 12:27:33 GMT -5
Let's be clear about a few things. Just because someone does great work most of the time doesn't mean they are exempt from criticism when they mess up. The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, Sin City, ect. don't excuse All Star Batman and Robin. Miller didn't even draw All-Star Batman and Robin. That was Jim Lee. The art in All Star is very good, in fact I'd say it's better than the art in any of the other examples when it isn't showing cheesecake. In this case I was talking about the writing. I'm also pretty sure Miller didn't draw Year One.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 2, 2015 11:54:21 GMT -5
The point of threads like these is to laugh at the bad art, not to engage in a philosophical discussion about whether adding extra joints to a person's knees and elbows and having none of the limbs be close to the same size is stylized or just bad art. But that discussion is the only interesting thing about this thread. Otherwise, it's just an exercise in cheap mockery. Cei-U! I summon the meat in the sammich! So tell me what the difference is between this thread and the 'worst cover ever' thread. Are covers so much more subject to criticism and laughter than panels? Even when those panels actually take up twice the size of any cover? When did criticizing one panel become an attack on the artist and his skills/knowledge? It's really rich that I get accused of 'hypocrisy' and then the person who makes the accusation presents a series of plain images as 'the worst ever.' I never said a word about or against Eric Canete, his skills, or his knowledge, and I have no intention to. I did not question why he was given the job or say that he should be fired, and I have no intention to. But to everyone who says that it is 'mean' or 'nitpicky' to single out a panel for critique, if that is the case then we should also never single out individual panels for praise.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 2, 2015 10:21:05 GMT -5
Let's be clear about a few things. Just because someone does great work most of the time doesn't mean they are exempt from criticism when they mess up. The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, Sin City, ect. don't excuse All Star Batman and Robin. And at no point did I ever say a word about the artist. Maybe he's done great work in other places. Maybe he hasn't. And as has been shown, it isn't just a panel, but a two page spread, meaning 10% of the comic was devoted to that image.
Anyways, this is being taken way too seriously. The point of threads like these is to laugh at the bad art, not to engage in a philosophical discussion about whether adding extra joints to a person's knees and elbows and having none of the limbs be close to the same size is stylized or just bad art.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 1, 2015 7:46:28 GMT -5
Finally got around to watching the first 2 episodes. 1 was very good. Didn't like 2 as much. A couple of scenes were a little too close to scenes from Nolan's Batman (waterfront fight and 'where is he!'). Episode 2 seemed darker than was necessary.
I think the fight scenes are overdone, but the lawyer stuff is great.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 1, 2015 4:39:26 GMT -5
My god. Iron Man's head...
I knew he was really a robot the whole time!
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 1, 2015 4:20:12 GMT -5
Wasn't alive at the time, and my father hadn't started collecting comics until the 80s, so my knowledge is limited to the big name stuff like Death of Gwen Stacy and stories that were collected in 'greatest of all time' anthologies. I know it was a pretty good time to be following Spider-Man and Batman, and that the seeds were being laid for great runs on X-Men and Teen Titans, but the more obscure stuff like Red Sonja I know very little about. Overall it looks like the only time both big companies had their creative acts together.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Nov 1, 2015 4:03:31 GMT -5
Wow. This time I was really bracing for criticism-specifically over this episode's antagonists. Having her 'creators' be the villains of a story where Supergirl is doubting her 'realness' seemed like a good idea, but I wasn't sure the execution was up to snuff.
And yeah, I also love the last scene. I like to think those kinds of scenes are a testament to how well Peter David crafted these characters.
I hope that when making things emotional I've been avoiding slipping into the angst that typifies so many bad comics. Seeing the trailer for Jessica Jones made me go 'dang, that's dark.' I'm sure it'll be fine, but I wish there was a female superhero show somewhere in-between that and the CBS Supergirl.
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