gwenfrankenstien (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gwenfrankenstien) wrote2010-07-12 06:29 pm
gwenfrankenstien) wrote2010-07-12 06:29 pm
Entry tags:
30 Days Of DC Meme: Day Four
Favourite Family
I was going to do a fakeout and not talk about the Batfamily here. But it would be a total lie. There was a time when I really did love the Arrows as much, but I stopped reading GA/BC around the time Connor developed superpowers and also amnesia and Mia ran off to England with an asshole; it has only gotten worse since then. I also have sort of a soft spot for the Wilsons; the last time I followed books they were in, Slade was OMG EVIL, Joey was suddenly also evil (again), Rose was Sexy Bad Girl, and nobody even remembered Adeline existed. In both these cases, I've sort of stopped caring as a defence mechanism. And, well. More than half the comics I buy these days have "Bat-" and/or "Robin" and/or "Gotham" in the title.
SO. Bats! Gotham City! WHAT IS THERE TO SAY. DC has been my primary fandom for... Fuck, about five years? And this is mostly due to a certain dysfunctional group of teenagers in tights and/or armoured panties. I tell people that I am a Batman fan, but that is not quite true: I am a Robin fan, and a Batgirl fan. I don't particularly care all that much for Bruce, if I'm perfectly honest. But I love Dick and Jason and Tim and Steph and Damian and Carrie; and Babs and Cass and Kate and Bette and Helena. I love what they all say about Batman, about Gotham, and about each other. I love Tim's hero-worship of Dick. I love Cass and Steph's unlikely-but-at-the-same-time-totally-real friendship. I love Steph and Damian's bickering. I love when Jason fights with any of the others. I love every time an authority figure tells a Batkid to quit and he or she absolutely refuses to back down. I love that apart from Jason every Robin has decided to become Robin, generally by stealing a costume. I love how litte Bruce seems to understand his family most of the time. And I love that Alfred cares so much about every one of them.
I love the Batfamily despite its class issues (the two working class kids are the ones who didn't follow orders and died? Really?), its gender issues (War Games. Just.... War Games. And Killing Joke.), its race issues (the only not-white Bat is the Asian Ninja Assassin Chick, and she got replaced by a blonde. Yeah.). I love that these iconic characters that everyone on the street knows about have these real(-ish) human lives that only geeks actually ever see. I love that these characters are all just people, that what they do is theoretically possible. I love that in Gotham there is a place for weird nerdy kids, for angry kids, for stubborn-as-fuck kids. For kids who were maybe raised by criminals, or by ghosts. I love the twisty turny canon, where it's okay to ignore things that don't really it, or where you can spend hours just trying to figure out how old people are. I love that Batman Needs A Robin and Gotham Needs A Batgirl and This Is Not A Game and Good Soldiers and probably lots of other weird issues-laden Batfamily catchphrases. I love that being Robin gave Jay magic, and Tim and Steph and Carrie and heck, probably Dick and Damian too.
BASICALLY. I LOVE ALL ROBINS FOREVER. AND ALSO BATGIRLS. I am running out of clever coherent things to say on this topic! THEY ARE THE BESTEST THE END.
I was going to do a fakeout and not talk about the Batfamily here. But it would be a total lie. There was a time when I really did love the Arrows as much, but I stopped reading GA/BC around the time Connor developed superpowers and also amnesia and Mia ran off to England with an asshole; it has only gotten worse since then. I also have sort of a soft spot for the Wilsons; the last time I followed books they were in, Slade was OMG EVIL, Joey was suddenly also evil (again), Rose was Sexy Bad Girl, and nobody even remembered Adeline existed. In both these cases, I've sort of stopped caring as a defence mechanism. And, well. More than half the comics I buy these days have "Bat-" and/or "Robin" and/or "Gotham" in the title.
SO. Bats! Gotham City! WHAT IS THERE TO SAY. DC has been my primary fandom for... Fuck, about five years? And this is mostly due to a certain dysfunctional group of teenagers in tights and/or armoured panties. I tell people that I am a Batman fan, but that is not quite true: I am a Robin fan, and a Batgirl fan. I don't particularly care all that much for Bruce, if I'm perfectly honest. But I love Dick and Jason and Tim and Steph and Damian and Carrie; and Babs and Cass and Kate and Bette and Helena. I love what they all say about Batman, about Gotham, and about each other. I love Tim's hero-worship of Dick. I love Cass and Steph's unlikely-but-at-the-same-time-totally-real friendship. I love Steph and Damian's bickering. I love when Jason fights with any of the others. I love every time an authority figure tells a Batkid to quit and he or she absolutely refuses to back down. I love that apart from Jason every Robin has decided to become Robin, generally by stealing a costume. I love how litte Bruce seems to understand his family most of the time. And I love that Alfred cares so much about every one of them.
I love the Batfamily despite its class issues (the two working class kids are the ones who didn't follow orders and died? Really?), its gender issues (War Games. Just.... War Games. And Killing Joke.), its race issues (the only not-white Bat is the Asian Ninja Assassin Chick, and she got replaced by a blonde. Yeah.). I love that these iconic characters that everyone on the street knows about have these real(-ish) human lives that only geeks actually ever see. I love that these characters are all just people, that what they do is theoretically possible. I love that in Gotham there is a place for weird nerdy kids, for angry kids, for stubborn-as-fuck kids. For kids who were maybe raised by criminals, or by ghosts. I love the twisty turny canon, where it's okay to ignore things that don't really it, or where you can spend hours just trying to figure out how old people are. I love that Batman Needs A Robin and Gotham Needs A Batgirl and This Is Not A Game and Good Soldiers and probably lots of other weird issues-laden Batfamily catchphrases. I love that being Robin gave Jay magic, and Tim and Steph and Carrie and heck, probably Dick and Damian too.
BASICALLY. I LOVE ALL ROBINS FOREVER. AND ALSO BATGIRLS. I am running out of clever coherent things to say on this topic! THEY ARE THE BESTEST THE END.