Planning to make a big ol’ doodle page, lemme know what y’all wanna see on it in the comments lmao and then we can just have one giant crack art page.

hi! i'm new to comics and i got in through reading your fics and wayne family adventures. i've since started reading more of the mainstream verse and i realized that most comic fans consider wfa to be totally fanon. you're one of the few i saw that disagrees. would you mind elaborating a lil on why? i'm too new to really form an opinion either way but i'd like to know your's!

(also yes i really did stalk your blog back years worth of posts i'm sorry! 😭😭)

Aw I love this! Welcome!

So I think it's really important to be clear on definitions here:

Canon means it's part of an official text. It's literally in a comic (or book or movie or other property) published or licensed by DC.

Fanon means it's made up by fans. That doesn't mean bad or good, it just means that it comes from fandom and is not part of the official text.

Wayne Family Adventures is an official licensed comic by DC, so by definition, it cannot be fanon. That doesn't mean everyone has to like it, but it's not a fan comic. It's an official DC product. It's not fanon.

Now, WFA isn't part of the main DCU canon. It takes place in a separate universe. The Jason in Batman #138 and the Jason in WFA are not the same and they are having very different experiences. (And I'm sure the Jason in WFA would be grateful if he knew.)

But that's no different than a comic that takes place in an alternate universe, like Dark Knights of Steel or DCeased, or a movie like Blue Beetle or a show like My Adventures with Superman. They all take place in their own universes, but all of those universes are canon. None of them are fanon.

What I think most people mean when they say WFA is fanon is that WFA draws on tropes and characterizations that are popular in fandom. Which...yes, absolutely. This is on purpose, and honestly, it pisses me off when people complain about it. (Not you, anon! Your question was lovely, you just triggered my unskippable cut scene of dialogue. Sorry lol.)

Wayne Family Adventures is probably the single best idea DC has had in the 20 years I've been reading comics. (The second best was the kids and YA graphic novel lines.)

I just checked, and WFA has 1.3 MILLION subscribers. That's more than every floppy comic starring Batman sells in a month, combined. It's more than literally any superhero comic has sold in decades - in this century! The combined strips have over A HUNDRED MILLION VIEWS. That is bonkerstown. That is a readership like DC hasn't seen since the 1970s. That is unparalleled success, and it's introducing characters like Kate Kane and Duke Thomas to a whole new audience.

Now, WFA was clearly designed to appeal to Batfans who were active on social media and fanfic sites like AO3 and Wattpad, and Webtoon readers. The readership of Webtoon is mostly young and female. Fandom as a whole is mostly female. The writer of WFA is female.

And maybe I'm not being fair here, but when I see people dismiss WFA as "just fanon," I always catch a whiff of "It's not a real Batman comic. It's a girl comic for girls."

I have spent the past 20 years begging DC (and Marvel, DC is not alone in this) to see women as a viable audience - as their largest potential growth audience! I have watched in dumbfounded frustration as they ignored the juggernaut success of Raina Telgemeier and Ngozi Ukazu and Alice Oseman running rings around the NY Times bestseller list and counted a 50k shipment here and there as a resounding triumph. I have literally seen them throw out survey responses from women because "those women had an agenda." (This is a true story. 2011 was rough, y'all.)

And all of a sudden, they gave us a comic actually catering to women and young people and fandom, and they put it on the most popular, current, modern platform for comics availably - and it's brilliant. It's smart and funny and stunningly drawn and every episode makes clever, inventive use of the scrolling format. They FINALLY gave us a girl comic for girls, and it's a masterpiece.

And yes, it riffs on fanon concepts. It also has its roots firmly in mainstream DCU canon. It references deep cuts. CRC Payne and StarBite know their shit. Jason Todd being a bookworm may be a fanon staple, but he does plenty of reading - including Jane Austen - in the 100% canon mainstream DCU comics.

It's not going to be for everything, because nothing is. It's completely fine if you don't like WFA. No one has to read it or enjoy it. If you're into Batman for the darkness and the crime and the ongoing plotlines and the angst, WFA won't be for you, and that's totally fine!

But to finally, finally be valued as a reader by DC, to have them do something smart and innovative and so, so well executed, and have the exact people they made it for dismiss it out of hand because Bruce has a "World's Okayest Dad" mug or whatever? Yeah, that chafes.

BAT AU FAQ (?)

i get a bit of the same questions so i’m gonna try to post some kind of list of answers and hopefully this clears stuff up

is jason a vulture or a turkey?

jason is a vulture. often times in media vultures are depicted as grumpy guys with bright red heads and it reminded me of red hood.

what kind of bird is Dick?

dick is a raven! most people seemed to guess correctly which is nice

what kind of bats are bruce, cass, and damian?

i actually don’t know lol. i just drew a few cute shapes and stuck some ears on them! if you know more about bats than i do (i know next to nothing) feel free to imagine whatever you’d like! there’s no right or wrong answer :)

what is alfred?

alfred is a human! i see him as some kind of caretaker to bruce and his babies! like the old lady from the aristocats

where is duke/steph/babs/other character?

i’m not sure if i should include everyone or what they’d be…

i’d still say i’m fairly new to comics (longer under the cut)

i’ve only been in to dc for about 2 years and have only read the current batman run as far back as the joker war! most of my reading is from anecdotal mini runs, or just seeking out my favorite characters and hopping around from different runs to skim a book or two, and reading what i can find in spanish in physical form.

my knowledge of some of these characters and their personality is limited to none (still learning.) they may not be included in some aus art or writings i make because i don’t know enough about them to know their personalities or what i think “fits” yet

mostly because DC fans have been pretty unforgiving when it comes to batman’s extended universe 😅 asking about their relations to bruce have given answers like “go read a comic” (which is fair) to more harsher things, being called stupid, racist, misogynistic, the r-slur, etc and accused “erasing” character history/family by asking if they are bruce’s family or kids . if i explain i don’t have that knowledge, i’ve even been told i just shouldn’t talk about them if i don’t know anything about them.

i’m sorry if your favorite character doenst get drawn, or is drawn as an animal you don’t like. you are welcome to say what you think they’d be or make your own drawings, i’d be happy to see it! i just don’t have the energy for people to fight with me or each other about what they think is right or wrong. i do this all for fun in what little free time i have 😭

I remember you saying you liked young justice so I wanted to know who's your favourite character or the one you think is most like you? I've been attached by the hip to this show since I was 13 so I'm a little... not normal about it lol.

also opinions on s3?

YES oh my god it was like formative media for me genuinely and i still love yj dearly i was rewatching it like last month actually along with yaboyroshi's reactions to it 😅 we are both a little not normal about this show dw 🤝🏼 im putting the rest of this under a cut because i start Yapping

my fave characters were dick, artemis, jaime, bart, and zatanna! dick i was Obsessed with from the moment i laid eyes on him in hindsight for gender reasons, probably but artemis always meant a huge deal to me as a kid because she was like the only vietnamese character (and with a skintone like mine!) that i'd ever seen on a screen. i loved everything about jaime's character and personality and arc and i had a really soft spot for bart because characters who are very outwardly upbeat and fun but are going through a lot of shit and hiding it are my favourites ever usually 😅. i also liked rlly them as a duo. zatanna's sort of cool-girl sass was always really fun to see and i think especially in s4 where her sort of less-rigid morality had more room to shine, really made me appreciate her character more. OH also when they introduced cassandra wu-san/orphan in s3 i like literally cheered out loud 😭 shes one of my fave characters from dc comics in general, so i was already biased towards her and i really liked her depiction and the room they made for her arc

i'm actually not sure which character is the most like me... i think because i watched it so young a lot of the characters kind of made their way into my personality in one way or another. i think irl im most like dick but it could be wishful thinking 😅 i'm not as cool as he is for sure

season three.... i'm kind of on the fence about it? i will say though i think it was a little rough with the dialogue especially, and i definitely didn't bond as well with the outsiders as i did with the original team and then the s2 cast. violet was the most likeable of the group by far but i think i was really put off by the fact that they kept killing them 💀 like i get that you guys can do this now with the higher rating but there are better ways to show off your newfound creative freedom than repeatedly brutally killing them. it was offset with the majority of the other characters suffering from basically no visible injuries too- if they'd been hit with bruises or scrapes or broken bones or ANYTHING and reduced the harm dealt to vi then i would've been less urgh by it.

i also wish they'd introduced victor a bit earlier into the season instead of spending sooo much time with brion because cyborg's story felt a little tacked on at the end, and um i was annoyed by brion from the jump 😭😭 tried so hard to sympathise with him because to be fair he went through a Lot but he just kept being such an aggressive ass to like everyone. which i guess was the point.. didn't make it any more fun to watch though.

i do like that they kept with the huge mass of entangled threads of the plot that were to me the hallmarks of the earlier seasons, picking apart scenes to try and work out how things interconnect was always my favourite part. i think the cast of the show at this point for what they were trying to do and focus on may have exceeded the show's bounds though- it was still a compelling narrative but i imagine for a casual watcher who isnt as meticulously invested in who is who and can recognise adaptations of arcs from the comics it can get very confusing or frustrating. its hard because i Love the og cast too but i think with s3 they couldn't decide on letting them go or letting their new characters shine and it ended up muddying the waters a bit, with the outsiders suffering the most from it due to no nostalgia or prior narrative heft to keep them from looking secondary to the original members of the team.

with s4 they chose to throw their lot behind the old team, which i appreciated and it neatened the rough edges of the show more, but i do still miss the s2 cast quite badly so i actually kind of wish they'd kept expanding the cast but just narrowed focus onto the new characters for every season. the title of the show is young justice, so i personally would've liked to keep seeing a focus on the newer and rising heroes of each successive generation as opposed to returning again and again to the originals

sorry that this is such a wall of text 😅 but i think this is one of the shows that i could genuinely just like sit and talk about for ages and ages... even the characters i dont like at all have a fair amount of gravity and heft to them that i love. wally is still alive btw i will never stop believing 😤 get that man out of the speed force!

J'onn Just Wanted to Eat Oreos in Peace

by Puppetmaster13

This could only end in disaster, J’onn decided in slight dismay as he opened his package of oreos.

He understood where his companions were coming from, being curious about each other and each other’s lives outside the cape. He understood the fact they were engaging in small talk, but did they really have to ask that question to the one of two people whose planets were quite literally dead and gone? And while he could tell that they didn’t mean any harm in their question, it didn’t mean Clark- as he’d let it slip once before- would.

This couldn’t end well, at all. 

Words: 662, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of DC Works

Fandoms: DCU, Batman - All Media Types, Superman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: J'onn J'onzz, Clark Kent, Flash, Barry Allen, Oliver Queen, Black Canary (DCU), Justice League (DCU)

Relationships: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne

Additional Tags: batman doesn't join justice league, j'onn just wanted to eat his oreos man, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, How Do I Tag, Implied Relationships, the justice league share one braincell, Bruce Wayne Never Joined the Justice League, superman is here for the chaos, Clark Kent is Superman, the league knows he uses the name clark but not his last name, they just think it's similar to j'onn tryin to blend in with humans with a more human name lol

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/48670936

For Barry and Hal-

What fandoms or franchises do you think they are in or follow? Could be podcast related, Reddit forums they are a part of, movie sequels or trilogies or novels!

Definitely something that should be mentioned more in canon comics so let’s use this as a manifesting moment by detailing it out 🤭

Right off the bat, I have to make it clear to absolutely everyone that Barry is 100% a Trekkie and Hal is most likely a Star Wars fan. And while we’re on the most heated sci-fi debate, I’ll add that once Hal and Barry became friends and Barry learned more about the Green Lantern Corps he undoubtedly introduced Hal to Star Trek and successfully convinced him that it was the superior sci-fi franchise, we stan two Trekkies 😜

Now then, I don’t think Hal would be very into book series or fantasy in general but he’d definitely have a particular interest in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy and I think he’d try Game of Thrones and The Witcher because of everyone’s recommendations but would probably not like it very much. He’s the noble-type though and would be pretty easily convinced to read the Lord of the Rings books (including the Hobbit and Silmarillion) because of the nobility of the characters and story. Same reasoning goes for Donita K. Paul’s DragonSpell series. He’d also probably be into the writings of Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Hemingway, and Raymond Carver, not hugely into them necessarily but if he was super bored and he had access to their stuff he’d dig it haha. His favorite poem would also probably be Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H.. I don’t see him being too into podcasts, but he’d definitely like rock bands like Foreigner and AC/DC. He’s also definitely into movies more so than tv shows and would love movies like The Right Stuff, Top Gun, Braveheart, The Patriot, John Wick, most blockbusters classics really, and probably anything with Bruce Lee haha. He’d probably think anime/manga was for nerds until someone pointed out that Dragon Ball Z was, in fact, an anime then he’d realize they can be pretty cool hahaha. And with video games, I’d say he absolutely doesn’t have the patience for long form RPGs but can probably be convinced to play some FPSs with friends like Call of Duty and Halo lol. Basically, this was a long way of saying that Hal is probably more sporty, not in an obsessive fan of sports way, mind you, just that he participated in mostly sports growing up and even as an adult probably prefers hanging out playing baseball with kids (Adams’ GL run has an adorable scene of just that) rather than watching/reading/listening to anything so essentially he’s just not very media-obsessed; he’s a doer! He also probably wouldn’t participate in the fandoms of any of the media he does consume because he cares more about engaging with the media itself rather than about others’ thoughts and feelings on it haha.

Onto Barry, honestly, Barry is kind of tougher for me to figure out purely because I feel like he and I are very similar so I’m inclined to list basically all my favorite things and my thought processes haha, but I’ll try to avoid doing that 😝. So, like I said, Barry is definitely a Trekkie, the Federation’s belief in preserving alien lives and lifestyles plus its dedication to exploration and science all appeals to his inner nerd. He probably loves the shows For All Mankind, The X-Files, and Bones because of their science-y natures (he definitely introduced Hal to For All Mankind and it’s one of the shows they watch together haha). We all know he’s a huge comic book fan (shout-out to Pre-Crisis that had him reading Golden Age Flash comics 😜), but I’ll also add that I think this love of Golden Age Flash, thanks to his mom, would have led to his own love of Greek and Roman mythology once he realized where the idea for Jay Garrick’s helmet and shoes came from! A love of mythology would eventually lead to a love of ancient western philosophy and writings then to Medieval romances like the Arthurian legends and the works of Chaucer. Old English stuff would’ve crept in there too starting with Beowulf. He was an old soul from a young age so all these things would’ve caught his eye on trips to the library and the old-fashioned romantic notions and chivalry has definitely stayed with him. All this appreciation for much older works would then slingshot back around to him loving and appreciating more modern works that took heavy inspiration from all this older literature like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, the Percy Jackson series, the Harry Potter series, the Codex Alera, and the Dresden Files, oh and all the detective novels, just all, from Doyle, Christie, Poe, Hammett, etc. then when he found foreign detective fiction he’d go mental and just read them all haha. He’d also probably read the Remo Williams and Jack Reacher book series and convince Hal to do the same! I’d say he’s also into old movies and classic tv shows because they all make him feel good with their sweet morals and happy endings. He’s probably not much of a gamer except for the ones with good stories, he’s too interested in learning new things to just watch someone else play though, if a game’s story interests him then he’s definitely playing it himself. Mass Effect is probably one of his secret favorites. He’s super into podcasts, anything informational and/or scientific, probably conspiratorial and/or true crime stuff, too, if for nothing else than to help him get inspiration on how to approach his own cases, he may even try and solve some cold cases that he hears about (he’d probably stumble across Black Box Down then convince Hal to listen with him haha). He definitely grew up with both the Pokémon TCG and show and was actually aware that it was an anime so is likewise somewhat into other very popular anime/manga like Naruto. Music would be jazz (he’d try and fail to get Hal into it, too, see: New 52 Flash’s Annual #2), 60s rock like the Beatles and the Monkees, and probably 80s pop like the Culture Club, oh and Air Supply (which is also Hal’s guilty pleasure band hehe). He likes sports a lot, both playing and watching, but was still more likely to be found reading/watching/listening to something rather than playing; still, the same way Hal can be convinced to play a video game in order to hangout with friends, Barry can be easily convinced to join in some sporty endeavors if it’ll mean bonding with a friend or loved one. Finally, like Hal, I don’t see him engaging too much with fandoms, he’d probably try when he was younger but wouldn’t find too many people who were into the same things then when he did find people things would devolve into arguments instead of just joy for whatever the thing was so he eventually would resign himself to just enjoying the thing itself, our Barry is a soft boy 🥹. He likes discussion though so once he found people who were his safe space they wouldn’t be able to get him to shut up hahaha.

…I …I can’t believe I wrote this much ahahah 😅. I swear I wasn’t going to get this involved! I was just going to name a few popular franchises that each would be into, but then I started thinking about mediums and how they’d appreciate different ones and then… all this came out lmao 😅😂. I apologize for the long walls of text! Just remember: this is your fault 😜

(Note: forgot to say, Barry would 100% be into Jurassic Park (books and movies) and would convince Hal to read the books (he definitely already watched and loved the movies)!

genesis for the ask meme :3

Sexuality Headcanon:

gay queer generally unlabelled, to the shock of no one who actually knows him personally but more shocking to people who only hear him out of context speaking in what's essentially gayer riddles than the riddler himself has put out

Gender Headcanon:

honestly, i like him being either ftm or just generally male adjacent with more masculine inclinations, he finds power in the manipulation of the imagery of what a 'man' is and so he runs with it. im personally flexible with this so im applying that back onto genesis as someone flexible with something like gender. this dude spends his time dissecting a centuries old unfinished text writing dissertations on it, he could without a doubt dissect the notions of gender along the way because of how gender is something potent in literature and poetry--linking it back to what it means to be a hero in a story about a female goddess where the modern depiction of heros is abundantly male

A ship I have with said character:

sephesis, strifesodos, valenstrifesodos, gentseng, genvin, GSC + Vincent too, if I feel like he's too lonely and start MISSING MY BOY!

I think he's almost versatile in how he could theorhetically romance anyone, but it's himself who stands in the way of that. If anyone could actually make him get out his own way, even if just a slight moment, I think these are the people who could.

A BROTP I have with said character:

gengeal, angenesis -- They're literally like. they fufill a brother dynamic to me. That's what I mean by broship. Of course people have made the (increasingly likely) argument that they actually are brothers on a semi-real-world-impossible scale, but I don't even care about the biology. Truly and fully they have such a strange dysfunctional relationship that is founded on both love and a resentment on some level. It's really strange and provoking. I think their bond is something like siblings raised to go against each other but despite everything still try to love one another. Of course an added romantic element would further complicate this and I fucking love interpersonal strife and drama so I'm not completely turning away from the idea of it, but it isn't my favourite ship inclination. I also love the idea of them horrifyingly finding out they're somewhere like 0.7% related to each other in some way but that's just my personal LOL session fuel (holdover from being in the dc fandom half my life and adoring all the batships HAHAHA)

A NOTP I have with said character:

eeh sometimes gengeal? Otherwise, mostly cis women characters because I just. I can't see him going for a non gender queer or GNC person, he is baked in queerness and so are his tastes! cant take the gay out of the gaylord LOL

A random headcanon:

His birthday has to be on a new years celebration day or start of a season change for me! For example, he could be born January 1st, literally a genesis i.e. start of the new year! That or he's born March 21 as the start of spring and the start of a new season.

I also like to use Tibetan influences in his crafting, reasoning being Banora is partially inspired by Tibet with the fruit and all, alongside Ryukyuan (Gackt W for once) + Minnan :D

Also, as for the aforementioned ships, he's very inclined towards neurodivergent people as well clearly LOL all his love interests are so off the walls non-neurotypicals it makes my heart sing and swell with pride

General Opinion over said character:

This guy are sick!!!!!! His designs gorgeous and I love his motifs, I don't get why people don't like him other than just not liking such obviously autistic people in media LOL like he's always been so endearing to me! I won't ever stop defending this dude

I've been reading & watching a lot of dc lately and I've been thinking of who I'd say are my current top 5 characters (male & female). I do mention other media but only if it's in conjunction with comics.

the guys:

jason todd (all encompasing that he is) is obviously number one. please act shocked.

bruce wayne. he's a fucking menace. i can say that affectionately (i.e. gotham), derogatorily (i.e. gotham war), or simply flabbergasted-ly (i.e. gargoyle of gotham).

dick grayson. he's so me sometimes.

eddie bloomberg. I barely know him but the one issue I read about him from teen titans v3 HOOKED ME.

turner hayes (from gotham knights). I think they did something quite good with him there. unappreciated. a BLOND wayne son which already proves this bruce is a better father than most IMO.

hm: alan scott (another one I barely know but whose recent run caught my eye) and gotham knights!harvey dent (I think they went in an interesting direction with him... right before the show was cancelled lol. and I liked two-face in task force z as well).

the gals:

selina kyle. mainly thanks to bronze era comics + gotham, ofc. she's the best thing in that show.

zatanna zatara. between yj, her webtoon, the few issues I've caught her in here and there... I'm really feeling her. I need to get my hands on more of her.

amanda waller. she's simply That Bitch. she always will be.

lois lane. my woman is really going through it in superman: lost.

talia al ghul. i just love her idc.

hm: diana (I'm Looking at her run), m'gann morzz from yj (SHE), and harley (there are some really good stories in black + white + redder).

(if I remember this post, I might edit it when someone is ~dethroned xDD)

Do you believe Dinah being paired with the Arrowfam is damaging for her character? And how would you fix that? I think we all know those two twitter accs who absolutely hate the idea of Dinah with the Arrowfam mostly bcs of Ollie but what's your opinion on the subject?

i know u don’t mean it as one but this does feel like a trap…hmm

i think it’s stupid discourse that people have just bc they want to have some kind of argument to hold onto. yeah i wonder why people associate dinah with the family she’s been connected to for over 50 years.

dinah being paired with ollie or the arrowfam as a whole isn’t inherently damaging to her character, and acting like separating them would fix dc’s sexism problem is stupid. i’ll always consider her arrowfam in the same way i consider hal arrowfam, just because they’re their own heroes doesn’t exclude them from the people they connect with. i also consider dinah’s family to be the JSA obviously…people can be connected with more than one group

frankly the problem of dinah barely feeling like a character stems entirely from writers not wanting to write women with flaws or depth anymore. they’re either girlbosses or background characters. (this is then a further problem with the comic industry not exactly being stable, and not wanting to take risks like they used to, especially with social media instantly connecting everyone with everyone else’s criticisms)

comic fandom as a whole has a problem with excluding characterisation for meta textual reasons (ooc writing, editorial interference) and then condemning other characters for the same reason (to quote tom scott, “Everyone draws the line of what's acceptable at just beneath what they are doing themselves”) it’s what happens when you have over 70 years of canon to draw from.

i also refuse to believe that people have ever read any of the black canary solo minis and enjoyed them.

i’d love for dinah to be back in a JSA book, or in a JLA book alone, but dinah’s relationship with the arrowfam isn’t the problem lmao, it’s a scapegoat

tldr: discourse stupid lol

Oh my word, thank you for such a lovely, detailed reply to my ask about comics???? I was expecting to be redirected to some links or blogs, which is ofc great too, but thanks so much for taking the time to type out and formulate all that for me?? I’ve never actually read a comic before so your first paragraph was a bit mind blowing (I had no idea comics worked like that, I thought each comic was like a chapter in the same book ahaha). I also had NO idea about the different eras but it already makes so much of what I’ve seen from the fandom make so much more sense, so thank you for that! (It’s reminds me, like, where people in history never bothered to write down stuff they thought was obvious bc it was obvious to them and then people came along and went ???, so following with this metaphor, thank you for making me “???” lol)

Anyways, sorry, super rambly ask, but thank you so much for taking the time and effort to reply so succinctly and also thoroughly, and also explaining what pieces of media are significant and why so… like seriously, that was so nice of you and I’m??? Ajahwjehrh??? Thank you sssm, once my exams are over I’m definitely gonna have a new media obsession :)

Aww, you're very welcome! I'm glad that I could help ease the way for you! As someone who started with Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond as my first real understanding of these characters (cultural osmosis doesn't count!), it was kind of a hard leap into comics, trying to understand how all of this fit together. To be fair, I don't want to give the impression that there's no coherency in comics from one author to another--it's very clear that a lot of authors are big fans of other authors' runs or they're building on stuff that came before their own run, but I emphasize the lack of consistency between authors because you absolutely cannot rely on that consistency being there, even if it often happens. You cannot pick up a comic from 20 years ago and expect the story to be exactly the same, because it's constantly being retold--authors want to be able to tell flashback stories at multiple points in the timeline, like take Dick Grayson, that "Robin & Batman" series I recommended is a retelling of their early days, of how Dick came up with the Robin costume, and it changes things (like gave him pants this time around, which I'm fine with) and I love that we can get retellings, because now I get to choose if I want to read that one or one of the older ones! We get a lot of really fun new stories able to be told, updated versions that weren't written back in the 1940s with different social norms, and I think that helps keep the comics fresh and interesting! And you're not wrong that some comics are like a different chapter in a single book! That's what Star Wars comics are aiming to be (well, within their own three distinct continuities) or what a lot of non-mainline DC/Marvel comics are like. It's just the main shared world superhero comics are a constantly shifting landscape! (To be fair to fandom not talking about a lot of this, it's also because the different eras are HELLA complicated to talk about if you haven't been reading comics regularly and broadly for 20+ years, like I had a solid grip on things until I left, and now I've been back for five months and I'm STILL fuzzy on just what Dawn of DC even is. It's hard to talk about stuff when you have a fuzzy idea of something, enough to pick up a comic and read, but can't explain high level detail in a post that would take you an hour just to write out all the weird little connections that lead up to an event!) But also thank you for letting me know your level of familiarity with cultural osmosis and what you're interested in getting into! Often times it's hard to know, "Okay, do I have to explain the different Robins or has cultural osmosis taught you enough that we can skip straight to the finer details?" because I love writing out broader views of the characters, but I don't want to patronize someone who is just looking for recs for starting places when making the jump to comics! I want to drag you guys in, but sometimes that requires tailoring things a bit more to where a given person is at/how much they know/what they're specifically intrigued by! Give me more info and I won't shut up in trying to reel you in. :D

I totally see where you're coming from with how you like your mix of comedy and seriousness and I think I'm really similar! I can definitely tolerate a lot of cheese but I'll almost always consider it a one off situation. I recently rewatched Batman and Robin while my wife was making a cast of my body so we could make cosplay and it was just so funny and silly that like it reminded me of what one of those really campy comics would look like in real life and I respected the fact that they could commit to it that way and make an artful movie that brought that to life but there were a few elements that didn't make sense to me like Barbara being Alfred's niece that I was just like whatever man and I knew I couldn't like... use it as a foundation for my basis of characterization, like I can with other media! I really love the animated series too, I grew up with it being my first experience with Batman and I always really respected it as a medium that I could trust to be satisfying and whole. I also really really liked Batman beyond because it felt like the closest continuation of that story even though I know it's really not canon and it kind of doesn't work, I like to view it as like a semi-official what if fan fiction from the original writers lol

I completely get what you mean about the comics, cuz I kind of view official comics like fanfictions even in their own right? I mean when you think back on like Bill finger and Bob Kane like eventually every other writer is going to be writing fanfiction of their characters but it's really fun to go through all the different Batman media and see whose stories you kind of like more and then whose stories you kind of tend to avoid

and when I mentioned I knew you liked comics, I was also speaking more from the perspective that you seem to have more knowledge about them Rather than I thought you had a preference for them, because you put together that comic PDF with batjokes moments and I was really impressed with that ☺️

i love your telltale fics and the games as a beautiful breath of fresh air into the life of batman so sometimes I like to imagine the animated series would be a great way to say where is juce 10 years later, if those universes were more cohesive setting wise lmao

Yeah, Barbara randomly being Alfred's niece is definitely one of the aspects of B&R that just… I guess it breaks up the campiness? That and Ivy being in love with Freeze for no discernable reason. And teaming up with him even though he'll kill her plants. And poor Bane! And then that weird bit at the end where Freeze is sort of forgiven but Ivy can't be? And Alfred almost dies. Should taken all that stuff out and added more camp.

I really enjoyed Batman Beyond too! I didn't even realize a lot of people didn't like it until recently. Honestly it's one of those things where I don't look into the reasons too much. lol I liked it and I'm fine with having liked it, no notes!! (OK I sorta lied. That bit in JLU where they made Bruce Terry's bio dad, that was bizarre.)

I am definitely in the "anything not created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane might as well be fanfic" camp. Like, sure, if DC puts resources behind a project, it has a better chance at being worth your time, but when I get down to it, I can't put a lot of weight behind the idea that someone's official derivative story is more valid than another someone's derivative AO3 post just because there was a cash exchange with a company that owns the original "asset." People who want to lean into that idea, that's their business.

The wild thing about the batjokes spreadsheet is I know that it's only a fraction of what's out there. I have read hundreds of comics at this point and I still feel like it's not enough to totally have a handle on things. Especially knowing how little I've retained. 😅 But that's another reason for the spreadsheet!

Thank you for enjoying my fics! And for implanting the idea in my head of a Telltale universe animated series… Just hijinks and maybe a little more murder with John and Bruce, bestest buddies.

CRAWLERS -Back in Action- Studio Day 3

Ey up duck!!! Any of my fellow 00's babies with a love for cartoons remember this cinematic masterpiece?? This sh*t is ingrained into my brain. It's also probably the reason my humour is broken, but I digress...

How are we all?! We're on day 3 of being in the studio!! Song 1 is starting to really pull together and I've got to say, it sounds f**king TASTY!!!!

Yesterday's nap score was a grand total of..........0!!!! Yep, you read that right, CRAWLERS made it through a whole day without a nap. It's unheard of, but we did it. Can we get a little round of applause for us anemics please?

That means your favourite bat-enthusiast is still in the lead with a total of 2 naps. I've got my money on Harry being the overall winner, but we'll all just have to wait and see.

Now for all of you who caught yesterday's studio day update, you'll remember I mentioned that we have some exciting news. If you follow us on our other social media platforms, you'll more than likely already be clued in, but for those of you who aren't, allow me to relieve you of the suspense- for my DC fans, this is going to be a big one for you. It certainly was for us!!

As some of you may know, HBO has been airing a show called Doom Patrol since 2019 (which also has Brendan Fraser casted -- did you like my little foreshadowing at the start there?? A cheeky little hint at what the surprise is?? She's not just a pretty face) and our very first single, So Tired, was chosen as a feature on the episode!!!! CRAWLERS are DC canon baybeeeeee!!!!!! Does that mean I have a chance with R Patts' Batman???? I'd buy your hats for the wedding now peeps, you're all invited.

Cute couple, right??? Anyway...

I do have a clip of the scene in question, however it's not exactly PG-13, so I can't post it without getting banned from Tumblr, but what I *can* post is a dramatisation of our reactions to viewing the clip for the first time. I would like to give you all a bit of context though-- nobody had told us the full scene. We were only told that Jane (character) would smoke some w**d and listen to some CRAWLERS records. Jeremy Carver (writer) has explained why Jane practicing some self love is so important to the character's development and personally, I'm all for female sexuality being shown in a light that isn't p*rnographic, but it was certainly unexpected at 10am on a Tuesday.

Jokes aside, this is a big deal for us and we cannot thank the team at Doom Patrol enough for choosing our silly little eyeliner band to be a part of their creation and the DC Universe. You made some little nerds very happy ^-^

That's the Velma series? God it looks horrible. I saw the trailer. They think there funny. "Look how self-aware we are. Changing things is bad lol." There trying to be Harley Quinn so bad.

I know a lot of people don't like Harley Quinn and it's portrayal of the characters, but I think it's perfectly fine. It's clearly it's own thing and it does show homages to the original material. Plus, they bring up things that most DC products tend not to like with Harley having a PhD. It's nice seeing her act like a psychiatrist. Also, suburban dad/mayor Joker is something I didn't know that I needed. My man really defunded the police. To be fair, Joker, or any other criminal in Gotham, would understand how fucked up the system is. It makes sense. Also, happy that they keep how manipulative Joker is, but in a very weird wholesome way. Like him getting Ivy to realize that something is going on with Harley and that she's pushing her like he did.

Plus, with how healthy Ivy and Harley's relationship is. Yeah, they slip up from time-to-time and still have their own major flaws, but it's clear that they care so much for one another. And the communication, my God! I love angst as much as the next person, but it's so nice to see a genuine, healthy relationship in an adult show.

Also, Harley's continued search for her identity is so good. She's been searching for who she really is since S1 and she still isn't 100% sure, which is fine. A lot of adults, including myself, need that reminder. No matter how set you feel in life, you're always going to be discovering new things about yourself. Maybe even complete changes to your life. It's okay. No matter how "evil" you started/ended up, you will always have a chance to change.

My god, Bruce. I can sing songs about how nice it is that this man has an actual personality and how the show explored his trauma. Plus, the fact that he never really can catch a break with relationships, himself, or things revolving around being Batman. The only other piece of media that I can think of that centers around how much his trauma has affected his life is Lego Batman. (Maybe also the Telltale series, hard to say. It all depends on your choices after all.) And him getting arrested for his and his family's crimes, just *chef's kiss*. Him recognizing that he needs to just stop and focus on himself. Jail is a good place to do that and, again, Joker would know, ironically x3

I really hope we see more of Harley and Bruce communicating. It's so fascinating to see into his mind, literally and figuratively, and actually learn more about Bruce and not Batman. (Not saying there aren't other pieces of media that haven't done this. Just basing it off of this show.) Plus, you know it's good because the Dudebros are mad that Bruce actually has emotions! Gasp!

I'm not gonna sit here and pretend the show is perfect or for everyone, but it is a damn good show. And it's all from a raunchy adult cartoon filled with swearing, blood, violence, a sprinkle of gore, and even some low-hanging fruit humor.

Anyway, what were we talking about? Velma? Yeah, that sure does exist...

This is random but do you have any favorite aro characters in media? Or characters who give you aro vibes?

No pressure!!

Ack! Oooooh good question!

Ok so idk many canon aro characters (which is sad there needs to be more and i am finding more but alas we have not met yet) but i do know some!! as for headcanoning, honestly i need to headcanon more characters as aro lol. disclaimer,, i went around looking at other peoples headcanons and agreed with them and now i share them with you :)) but also like for these characters i just have vibes and no explanation, solely going off what headcanons i saw that made me go “oooh yes” with no solid reasoning

CANON

BOOKS/COMICS/ETC

Jughead Jones from the Archie Comics: an iconic aroace

Yelena Belova from the Marvel Comics: is canonically aroace afaik so go her, she’s fantastic

Georgia Warr from Loveless (Alice Oseman): is aroace!! 😭😭 her story devastated me in its relatability but it’s fantastic and i love her

Gwen from An Accident of Stars (Foz Meadows): an alloaro in a polyamorous relationship and has a kid. It’s canonically mentioned offhandedly but it’s NOT Her Entire Personality™️ !! Plus she’s a kickass character (And the whole book is filled with polyamory!!) i love Gwen, she’s a really cool character

HEADCANONS

BOOKS/COMICS/ETC

Garfield: i saw it. i liked it. fuck yah

Edmund Pevensie from the Chronicles of Narnia: yes. why not. yes. i saw the headcanon and just,, agreed with i.

Saiki K: haven’t watched the anime or read the manga but it’s on my list and therefore so is he. why not

Elatsoe from Elatsoe (Darcie Little Badger): canonically ace, not stated that she’s aro BUT THERE WAS A MOMENT WHEN A FRIEND OF HERS WAS LIKE “you can bring a friend or a zucchini” or something AND I SQUEED BC QPR’S FOR THE WIN !! that little mention made me really happy. anyways yah she could totally be arospec

Bruce Wayne from Batman Comics/DC: i mean,,, the fact that im pretty sure he’d never give up being Batman for anyone, like sure he’ll have relationships and w/e but like,, idk it makes sense to me

Damian Wayne from Batman Comics/DC: yes. aro or arospec Damian just makes sense for some reason. i would also go as far as saying arospec Jason Todd as well ….

Bakugou Katsuki from My Hero Academia: aspec Bakugou just,, i love aspec Bakugou. it just makes sense to me. and i love it.

Todoroki Shouto from My Hero Academia: yes. he just has them aro/arospec vibes tbh

MOVIES/SHOWS/TV/ETC

Natasha Romanoff from the MCU: ive heard this before and i agree w aro or arospec Natasha. just yes.

Bruce Banner from the MCU: yes. not to mention the Hulk is green 👀 we love aro colours (and his purple shirts?? aroACE vibes !! 👀)

Loki from the MCU: absolutely. have y’all seen the amount of green he wears? and just his vibes. yes.

Tony Stark from the MCU: ya know now that im thinking about it, he’s got aro vibes.

The Doctor from Doctor Who: yes. never watched Doctor Who but i did read that one tumblr post about aro characters being passionate about their interests and i loved the headcanons from it so The Doctor makes the list

Enjorlas from Les Misérables: from that same post so yes

Newt Geiszler from Pacific Rim: again the same post, and yes i see it (kaiju!!)

Sherlock Holmes: as much as i love Johlock as a ship, aro or arospec Sherlock just Makes Sense™️ (and can still work with Johnlock heh)

Elsa from Frozen: aroace or wlw (or both 👀)

Merida from Brave: yes. totally aro. i love her.

Milo Thatch from Atlantis: The Lost Empire: from that one post lol. (and like,,, yes. yes.)

Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty: aroace icon. (we love villainous aroace’s lol /just as genuine as sarcastic) all that green and purple?? yessssssssss

Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6: (i need to rewatch this movie lol) i saw headcanons for it and immediately agreed. i love aroace Hiro. it makes sense to me

Castiel and Dean Winchester from Supernatural: ya know, arospec Cas and arospec Dean just seem to make sense to me. idk why couldn’t tell ya but it does

Luke Skywalker & Rey from Star Wars: they just have aro vibes. even if Rey’s in a polycule w Finn and Poe, she’s still aro or arospec imo

~~~

That one tumblr post in question:

Happy Tv Tropes Thursday (I know, I just made it up)! What's one/some of your favorite Tv Tropes from the site?

Ooh good question, thanks for the ask! And I like the TV Tropes Thursday idea. I haven't actually spent much time on the website other than when people make it for their fav AO3 fics, so here I go — rabbit trail time!

Alright. I skimmed through some of the pages for Casey McQuiston's Red, White, and Royal Blue, Jason Todd, NBC's Hannibal, and Clouds' BNHA fic Deku? I Think He's Some Pro. I was also going to look at Mastermind's tropes but the list was already too long haha. Here they are . . . I tried shortening the list:

Also my fangirl comes out in this but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It's Tumblr — I'm not ashamed to out myself as one lol

Unholy Matrimony, The Family That Slays Together, Dating Catwoman, : Relationships with villains and/or morally gray characters are some of my favorite tropes in fiction. There's a reason I thoroughly enjoy villain AUs on AO3, my favourite DC character is Jason Todd, and I adored Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games prequel.

Queer Romance: I'm a disaster pining sapphic. I live for any queer romance, it's my bread and butter, my way of making through my day to day life /hj

Reformed, but Not Tamed: I love redemption arcs as much as corruption arcs. But for a redemption arc, I almost always need this trope otherwise it doesn't feel right? Also I just,, love someone being reformed but still absolutely feral. It's Very Enjoyable.

Dramatic Irony, Loophole Abuse, Blatant Lies: I love just the comedic aspect of all of these. Sometimes the tragedy, but mostly how they make the audience and writer laugh.

And finally – Shout-Out: I'm a massive nerd; it's no secret. I love drawing parallels between my muses/writing and other pieces of media. There's a reason I make a shit ton of playlists and I have a Notion page filled with quotes for my characterization of Jason Todd. And one of my favourite parts about RWRB is the references that the characters make it in it.

This was more than a few, but it was fun! Thanks again for the ask. What about you? What are your favorite TV tropes?

I’m just rambling, okay? There’s no point to this rant. You have been warned.

The thing about being a comics fan (been in DC comics for about six months now) is that unlike any other fandom I have been in, there is no One True Canon as far as I can tell.

No, seriously. Unless you were born in the last few years, your canon has been recooked into so many different recipes by writers and artists and editors who all probably violently disagree with each other. When I started reading and needed to log all of my comics to get some semblance of a reference sheet, I used to include the credits and highlight the names of writers and artists that did really well. And the flipside, you know. My own personal blacklist.

Starting out as primarily a Tim fan and a Damian fan simultaneously means I got used real fast to reading comics that sucked bad for one character but also mind-blowingly nailed it on another. What is a comics reader to do? You know, I come from certain fandoms where the canon was nailed down, and every undoing of it was deliberate, and I do do that. My 232+ epilogue of Percy Jackson isn’t public, but you better bet I combed through the canon with the same devotion that I highlighted every printed line I was going to change. But I’ve come out of comics a desensitized reader. Do I get the urge to edit and redraw every panel of Nightwing 2016 Issue 43 to undo all the truly desperate and honestly failing attempts to portray Roy as stupid (it doesn’t even work because he’s so smart he gives like 90% of the exposition in this chapter and always has an eye on the small child out of fatherly instinct) and to remove Cheshire (because what was even the point of her in this chapter? And if she wasn’t plot-relevant then why would you include her terrible characterisation for the sake of it) but keep a large chunk of the overall premise to preserve what I think was reasonable (if slightly nuked) characterisation of Damian being all huffy that he tsundered some time with Dick only to have Dick’s friend come in and he’s adorably and understandably jealous and yet he succeeds at telling Dick that he wants to spend more time with him at the end and then he and Roy bond over being slave-driven by Dick for the rest of the night… Where was I? Oh. Right. So, I mean, yeah. I do.

This is my way of interacting with media. Sure, I’d like it to be perfect and not have Fabian Nicieza nuke Damian in an attempt to make Tim and Dick more justified (based solely off of Nightwing 1996 #138 of the Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul series and honestly I should give him more credit because Damian specifically has a long blacklist and the only reason why I’m this harsh on him is because he wrote Dick and Tim beautifully and a few little tweaks would make me frame this chapter). But there’s a space for me to work with, as a writer.

So, okay. Flash writers are dedicated to the whole Flash cast and brought them back in canon, which is so important and useful honestly. I give the Flash family a big star sticker, formally adopt Wallace and Avery into the family, and set to work giving them daily lives. Everything’s great! (Jai. And his chronic pain. Is so important to me because it draws on my own experiences. I won’t go into it here and you’ll never get to see it unless…)

I timelines ages in the fandoms where it matters. It doesn’t matter in DC. It can’t. Dick has been alive for 84 years + pre-Robin, and he’s like twenty-something. Hitting thirty for the lols. You don’t age until you do. You know how you enter college and everyone graduates at different times depending on the density courses you take? Just me? Anyway that’s how ages work in DC and it’s not concrete and just don’t think about it.