30 day challenge answers, day 09 + DC reboot blogging
30 DAY SAILOR MOON CHALLENGE - Day 09 - Least favorite villain:
- Probably Demand. I think it's a combination of not finding him to be an interesting villain in his own right and then adding in fandom's tendency to ship him seriously with Usagi, while seeming to not realize that it's a really unhealthy, abusive ship. About the only thing I like him for is possible Demand/Saphir shipping.
30 DAY FINAL FANTASY CHALLENGE - Day 09 - Favourite Moogle Version:
- I'm pretty partial to the Final Fantasy XII versions because of how they let me zip across the cities (once I figured that out) and I'm not sure I've found them as useful in other games. Plus, they were super cute there! And gave me quests to do in the Clan Centurio! And I count FFXII:RW as part of them, where they did all my weapons crafting! Though, I'm pretty curious to see how Moogles are in FFXIII-2 now....
30 DAY MARVEL CHALLENGE - Day 09 - Your favorite classic character:
- Jean is one of the most classic characters, she's been around for a very long time, and I think she's really my favorite of the original X-Men. I love her power potential, I love her story with the Phoenix Force, I love how her life is as epic as epic gets, I love her compassion and kindness while being a total badass that you do not want to cross. I really miss her, but part of me is glad she's gone because I don't think Marvel has done right by her character in a long time and, if they brought her back, they wouldn't actually use her as a character or a leader (which she should be), but would use her for fodder for the Jean - Scott - Emma love triangle and then I would BARF.
30 DAY OKAMI CHALLENGE - Day 09 - Favorite brush stroke?:
- I always enjoyed the wind brush stroke. Part of that was because it was easy to go, I never had to struggle with getting it down, but it was also because you could use it in so many fun places to just watch the wind blow things around. The leaves on the trees, watch people get caught in an unexpected breeze, etc! It never really quite got old!
30 DAY ADVENTURE TIME CHALLENGE - Day 09 - How you got into Adventure Time:
- The nephew asked me to watch it with him sometimes, but it didn't quite take the first time I sat down with him. Then I saw the endless gifs on the internet and it seemed like so much perfection in those moments, where they were the biggest gpoys. Then I tried another episode and, voila!, it took! Especially once there was a bigger emphasis on Princess Bubblegum being awesome. Which she was, in her awesome swan and swooping in to rescue Finn and Jake! It was then that I realized there was more going on with the show.
30 DAY SHIPPING CHALLENGE - Day 09 - The most believable relationship:
- I know I've been using them a lot lately and it's not that they're the only believable relationship (of which I like loads) but they're the one that first came to mind: Usagi and Mamoru in the Sailor Moon manga. For all the typical magical girl storyline stuff that gets thrown at them, these two had an amazing relationship where they actually talked shit out and got jealous of each other but dealt with it and learned to communicate with each other and rely on each other and trust each other! They actually went through external events that made them an internally stronger couple because Naoko had them grow as characters and actually showed the progress in their relationshp!
30 DAY ICHIHIME CHALLENGE - Day 09 - Favorite IchiHime fanfic and why (provide a link to it if possible):
- I don't think I have a one, single fic that I like the most, but I do enjoy anything by alice hattercandy!
I read most of the new DC reboot (aside from the ones that are coming out this week) that I was interested in, trying to keep an open mind and give them a fair shot. I've been about a year or two behind for awhile now, so I figured this would be a good experiment, to jump into the reboot to see just how returning-reader-friendly they really were. Honestly, out of the dozen issues or so that I read, there was only one I was even vaguely excited about. Most of the issues weren't terrible, but neither were they particularly interesting and having to do set-up issues only explains so much, especially when those set-up issues should be exciting and have lots of shit happening.
These are short reactions, but still SPOILERY.
Action Comics #001: I don't even know where to start. I don't know how much of this mess is just Morrison being Morrison or if DC is actively taking Superman in a new direction, but I suspect it's a little of both. He starts off the issue wearing jeans and it's not that I'm opposed to changing the suit up a bit, because I thought the new costume at the end was fine. And I get that they were trying to find a way to show that he's not as established here, that he's not flying yet (he's leaping tall buildings, etc.) and that he's still figuring things out. But the character is so smug and it just rubs me all the wrong way. I realize that DC probably has a nearly impossible fine line to walk with me when it comes to Superman, because I feel like "Ugh, I don't like Superman because he's so perfect and has every power ever and he's so bland." but then they change him up and I'm like, "Ugh, this isn't who Superman is! Gross!" There has to be some middle ground to make the character interesting again, to slowly introduce problems in that give the character complexity, rather than taking Morrison's usual "edgey" route that's just... ugh.
Batgirl #001: I wanted to like this one. But when Simone makes a point of having the people she just saved say, oh, thank you, Batwoman! and she corrects them to say, no, not Batwoman, I'm Batgirl, it just grossed me out. I realize that it wasn't meant to come across like that, it was just a cute nod to Kate Kane as another redheaded Bat-fighter, it was just one of those mistaken superhero identity things that writers do, it was just a way to establish her name in this book. But it comes off as, "I'm not a woman, I'm a girl." and I have pretty much zero interest in that grossness.
And it's not that I'm against de-aging Barbara a few years back, because I think that most of the characters (except Damian, who is only 12, so it's kinda hard to deage him much further) are being deaged and I'm not against the idea of a young woman starting out this new life of hers. But I have problems with how she needs a roommate. Barbara Gordon. Needs a roommate? She can't afford her own place? ...really? That makes no fucking sense if they're keeping any kind of continuity and supposedly they are! It's not that the writing itself is bad and I can still hope that Simone might pull something salvagable out of this, but this issue grated on me for the ENTIRE SET-UP and I was actually one of the people who was thinking that Barbara as Batgirl might be okay.
If this was Barbara in the past, when she was just first starting out, like Batgirl Year One, sure, okay. But she's not. And they're keeping a lot of the continuity. So it makes no sense! Blargh!
Batman #001: This is the one issue I actually really kind of enjoyed and am a little excited about! There's one scene that really got me, mostly. The set up is basically: Batman sneaks into Gotham (while thinking to himself about the crummy state Gotham is in) and has to fight off a whole bunch of the inmates, thinking that every once in awhile this city, the people in it, surprise you. Every once in awhile they do something that catches even him off-guard.
As he's thinking this, he's thrown through a wall and runs into the Joker, who says, "And here I was beginning to think you were going to die without even saying goodbye!"
"Are you ready to do this?" Batman asks him.
"Always so serious. Fine, then..." as the Joker starts beating up the bad guys, working back to back with Batman, "...let's cut to the punch line!"
(He goes to see Gordon, who's like, uh, that kinda looked like the Joker was fighting side by side with you, but that can't be, right? And Batman's like, nope, just your imagination. :| )
Okay, dammit, Snyder, you got me. I was cautiously drawn into the issue. It's a little weird to see just how young Dick looks here, like I suspect him of being in his late teens. Tim seems younger again as well. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but... well, I'll give it some time, see how it all works out.
Basically, this was a solid issue but it had a hook at the end designed to draw me in: There was a murder victim that Batman's on the case of, who had dna under his fingernails... that came back to be Dick Grayson's dna. My first thought: So Dick will be sticking around for more than one issue? And play an actual role in the story? Fuck. Okay, Snyder, you got me. Even if I do hate the falsely accused of murder plot, like, 98% of the time.
Batman and Robin #001: Pretty much what I expected it to be. There is no joy or fun in this book and it's not nearly badass enough to make me care. Even the brief mentions of Dick and Damian's time together barely registered, because it was clearly only thrown in there to give a nod to continuity, not because it had any special meaning to the story or the characters. I don't care about Bruce and Damian's father/son dynamic because they're just too similar and it's like reading a solo book for either of them. Which I really kind of don't care about.
Birds of Prey #001: I want to like this one. I did enjoy parts of it, especially with Dinah. And it was nice to see Barbara make a cameo. But other than that, I barely even remember what happened in this one. Not bad, just sort of... there.
Catwoman #001: Why is Selina green? Why can't we see her face? Why is there so much focus on her boobs? Why so many seriously awkward poses in this issue? These were the questions that kept running through my mind while reading this issue. There was also the now-infamous sex scene with Batman and Catwoman, where his calf muscle was literally thicker than her waist.
I actually had a lot of feelings on this issue because it both pissed me off and frustrated me for different reasons. It pissed me off because the art blatantly reduced Selina to her body parts and took almost all the focus off her as a character and a person. It frustrated me because I think, if you separated the art out from the script, the script is actually pretty fine. There's not much in the script that seems to call for that kind of focus on her body, but the art just completely fails the writing. Sure, there's sex on a roof but the way it's written, it actually didn't feel that much about titilation to me, it felt like it was about the complicated, messy relationship between these two people. It wasn't necessarily meant to be sexy. But the art took away from that tone and instead made it purely about the sex in a way that just left me skeeved out.
Deadman #001: So much exposition omg. I realize that they had a lot of setup to do and I understand why that would make it such a slow read but jeez. It was so slow.
Green Arrow #001: I know I'm not an expert on GA by any means, but I recgonized absolutely none of this besides Ollie himself. I really wanted to like this one but I found myself intrigued by none of it.
Justice League #001: I'm generally a fan of Jim Lee's art, but it almost seemed phoned in here. Maybe it was just that he wasn't drawing characters I give a crap about, because certainly there was a lot of detail and it wasn't like I thought it was badly done, just that... it never really intrigued me. But it was fine.
The story on the other hand, just left me staring at this thing and trying not to sigh really heavily. I tried not to sigh while Hal was a smug asshole the entire time he was on the page. I tried not to sigh heavily while the Bats/GL scenes went on forever and I kept thinking that they were just throwing away what little momentum they had going with this title. I definitely didn't manage to not sigh heavily when they threw out the little nugget that they'd never heard of Darkseid.
I just. It's just--
Sigh.
So, let me get this straight. Dick was still Batman in this reboot. And Dick was Batman because Bruce died. Bruce died because Darkseid killed him. But they've never heard of Darkseid? How does this even work? (I expect some handwaving or maybe pulling out the Bane thing, so maybe Bruce didn't die, he was just on vacation, but that's going to be such bullshit.)
Oh, well. At least Clark was wearing a decent outfit in this one and Jim Lee's art was prettier by the end.
Nightwing #001: I have to agree with Noel on this one. I'm tired of Dick returning to the circus. I used to love this trope for his character, I loved his circus roots, and I loved any time he would go visit them and he'd remember his parents! But here it feels like an excuse to just throw something, anything!, at the readers because they don't have any idea of what else to do with the character. There's nothing else that intrigues me about this book, either! No interesting villain, no interaction with any of his family, nothing.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed some parts of it! The two-page spreads of all the acrobatics were pretty and I liked the nod to how Bruce apparently formally adopted him in this timeline. But other things just fell flat, like Dick flirting with the circus redhead because he's always had a thing for redheads. Yeah, vague implications and winks are okay, I didn't hate it, but I'm not exactly getting a charge out of it, either.
There's too much vagueness in this new reboot continuity. There's a line about how Dickw as Batman "while Bruce Wayne was... away." Yeah, that instills confidence in me that you have your timeline nailed down and you'll keep on top of your writers to not contradict each other. Sigh.
Dick's Girlfriends #001: Sigh. Where to even begin with this one? I do find the Redhead Squad amusing (even if Jason isn't a redhead anymore), that they're only missing Barbara (and maybe Wally), but I'm not sure that's enough to carry this book. I'm glad that Jason seems to have an actual personality here, one that's along what fans have been pining for for awhile now, I think? I didn't hate the plot of the book. But that's about where my positive feelings end. I really get skeeved out looking at Starfire in all the sexual poses and how she wants to have unattached sex with everyone, because you can throw out the one line about how she's free to do what she wants when she wants, but it's obviously bullshit being used to turn her into the perfect fantasy sex kitten.
And, oh, Lobdell.
What happened to you?
You used to be so good! I read your X-Men issues and they were so good and I liked you Gothem City Sirens issue! What happened?
This is not just a case of the art, this is very much the script turning her into this really horrible, personality-less sex kitten that I find super gross. What's even the point of giving her amnesia? Because it feels like it's just to erase her entire character so you don't have to give her a personality. I'm open to things getting better, but even Jason's treatment of her--while IC for this new version, I guess?--never seems to be looked down on by the narrative. I'll keep reading this, because I have affection for these characters, but, wow, I was not pleased about it at all.