Found this excellent thread compiling the evolution of the DCU's Asian mothers - Lady Shiva, Shado, Cheshire, Talia Al Ghul and Linda Park.
Talia is the only one not entirely of East/South East Asian descent (for all the good that does her lmaoo DC absolutely hates Asian women), and I've mentioned earlier that she's still probably three-quarters Chinese (Ra's was originally a manifestation of the US's Yellow Peril, which later evolved into the "Arab World" anxieties around the Gulf War in the '90s and finally Arab terrorist tropes post 9/11). Still, considering Damian was introduced with Arab jihadist tropes, that Talia' still very much the "Arab terrorist woman", and the lack of West Asian characters in the DCU, it gave me a little thrill to see this:
(Alt text included)
It's from a fan created book called Gotham: (1919 - 1939) by the boutique publishing company Giant Panda King. It's not a DC affiliated or authorized one, but it's still the first time I'm seeing such a gorgeous face claim.
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it really is starting to feel like every single person at dc has somehow just completely forgotten how storytelling works on a fundamental level. like i genuinely believe 99% of the problems they’re having could be solved if all the writers and the entire editorial staff was forced to take a middle school reading class
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been reading young alan scott. slay
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The thing about reading early 1990s comics is that sometimes I have to pause here and point out:-
Dr Julia Kapatelis here is designed, dressed and coded here as an ordinary straight feminist university professor who does site work.
Quinn Thomas is designed, dressed and coded as a butch lesbian.
The MOST give away aspect of Quinn’s look is actually that cross earring, believe it or not.
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Gotham Incorrect Quotes Pt 113
Oswald: Why would you put an alarm on that?!
Ed: The weird thing is, I didn't!
Oswald: Well then who did?
Mr. Scarface: *winks*
Oswald & Ed: *slowly back away together*
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Ed: The whole criminal underworld was mad at me for killing you, and you're not dead.
Oswald: Well, maybe you shouldn't have killed me, huh?
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Ed, holding up Edward the dog: Stinky.
Oswald: No! Don’t be mean!
Ed, swaying Edward back and forth in the air: Stinky bastard man.
Oswald: No!
Martin, without looking up: *holds up paper* "Naughty boy. Brat dog."
Oswald, distraught: Nooo!
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I had to look up XS's origins to see if it did contradict that little story with Dawn & not really? It's kinda stated that the whole Tornado Twin death happened some years later after being asked to dismantle a Dominator lab so Dawn could've raised Jenni before then (Legion of Super-heroes Annual #6 for reference)
So the timeline is like this:
- In their early 20's Don and Dawn fight the Dominators. During this war they meet Jeven and Meloni.
- Dawn and Meloni discover they are pregnant. Fearing that the Thawne's will come after them, they go into hiding.
- Bart and Jenni are born around the same time. Don and Dawn use the cosmic treadmill in an attempt to flee the universe with their newborn infants and spouses to get them to safety. This does not work as Zoom had tampered with the cosmic treadmill. It exploded, causing damage to reality, but thankfully everyone made it out alive.
- Don and Dawn are assassinated. The hit was ordered by President Thawne and carried out by the Dominators. The public was told they died in battle.
- Bart, at one, is kidnapped by President Thawne. Meloni is told the Dominators killed him. Meloni flees under a fake identity. Jeven, fearing the same for Jenni, flees to another planet. Iris uncovers the truth about Bart and relentlessly advocates for his safety and well-being.
- Bart, at two (physically 12), is kidnapped by Iris and they flee to the present era.
- Jenni, at two, is kidnapped by President Thawne in a last ditch attempt to kill off the Allen bloodline. Meloni makes a deal with her father that Bart will stay in the past forever if Jenni's freedom and safety is assured. President Thawne agrees as Jenni had no powers and didn't carry the Allen family last name. President Thawne celebrates the death of the speedster legacy.
- Jenni's powers develop at 13 and she carries on the speedster legacy.
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dick stans who feel threatened by like. literally any other dc character than bruce are so goofy like... you dont need to. i promise you dont need to. youre biting your nails anxious defensive staring at the 2nd-3rd horses lagging halfway down the track in a race your guy's *already won*. like please be serious
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Not to be a #hater but they rly did make the wrong Superboy bi (it should've been Konnnnnn)
HELLO ???????????????
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I've yet to see a single "the LoSH being from the future is so confusing and unrelatable they should just be from the present instead" person explain the logistics of that. 90% of the framework you need for the Legion doesn't exist in the 21st century, and if you're going to change things until it fits you'll either end up with an entirely different team or some incredibly large status quo changes to the universe as a whole.
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100,000 fanboy points to Judd Winick for seeing that the Hush storyline hadn’t actually resurrected Jason Todd and going “well I’m definitely fixing that!” and then doing it himself.
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"Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night." -Frank Miller
"Batman's Gotham City is Manhattan below 14th Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November, and Metropolis is Manhattan between 14th and 110th Streets on the brightest, sunniest July day of the year" - Dennis O’Neil
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There is absolutely no way it’ll be the 1 year anniversary of timber in a month.
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I thought reading comics was going to get me really into the characters but instead I'm in a comic collecting chokehold
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A loner by nature, von Hammer spent much of his free time wandering the nearby Black Forest, often in the company of a silent black wolf that von Hammer considered a kindred spirit and his only true friend.
Hans von Hammer in Who’s Who: The Definitive Dictionary of the DC Universe (1985) #7
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Cataclysm and No Man’s Land, to me, are one of the parts of DC Comics that are the most concrete in their time and place.
The Cataclysm happened mid 1998 (around American Independence Day). It SHOULD be Independence Day. This is a very American story, about national identity. No Man’s Land happened in 1999. For about 18 months there the Bat books run almost in real time.
Mr Wayne Goes To Washington at the end of 1998. He’s going to appeal to Washington to save his city even as the US have midterms. Of course nobody wants to pay to save Gotham - they have elections to win, and there’s no votes in spending big on Gotham, in blowing a hole in the budget.
They blow the bridges at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Even as firework displays go off, as people celebrate, they destroy the connection to Gotham and damn those left behind.
This is a disaster that happened before Y2K. The lack of Oracle’s computing power for the year is almost referential of the oncoming worries about whether all the computers ARE about to crash and the world fall into lawlessness.
Barbara’s diary date count is real, a running concept of time in a place where the date no longer matters, the only thing that matters is how long it has been happening. I understand her record on a deep fundamental level. I too counted lockdowns by day, and knew it was Day 51, Day 97, Day 108. Days since the only important thing happened, since my world changed.
And then, when Tim Drake’s rescue finally captures the outside world’s attention? It’s in late 1999, even as candidates for President are positioning themselves for the 2000 election.
Lex Luthor moves to rebuild Gotham as much to position himself as a possible President, to start his election campaign, as he does to try and acquire cheap title to half of Gotham and screw Bruce Wayne.
No Man’s Land happened in 1999. It must always have happened in 1999, to me. Even with comic’s sliding time scale. It could have happened 3-4 years ago in the past, except if it had, it would be a different disaster, with different effects. People would have reacted differently.
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Many months ago I saw a post listing out reasons why Asian Tim headcanons are inherently racist. One reason was that it contributes to the culture of objectifying Asian men, especially queer Asian men. (Something something Tim being seen as the twink of the fandom and how Asian men are already denied diverse representations of their masculinity in media as it is)
I think that observation goes both ways though, because you could just as easily argue that in light of Tim being confirmed as bi in canon, him also being Asian would only enrich his character's experiences and add depth to representation.
So why does Asian Tim headcanons still leave such a bad taste in my mouth?
Let me ask you something real quick. Why does fandom headcanon Tim as Asian? Is it for the sake of representation? If that's the case, why, out of all the other non-Asian Batkids or Teen Titans, is he the one who gets Asian-coded the most?
Is it because of Tim's family background? The Drakes were big business entrepreneurs, the head of a corporation. Is being Asian synonymous with being upper class to you? Cause that hardly seems representative of the many Asian families who came to America as hardworking citizens of the working class.
Is it because of their family's heritage? Based on what I know, few clues in canon suggest that they are anything but a WASP (or Jewish, at most) family. I can just as easily make the case for Jason being Asian based on one throwaway plot beat involving Lady Shiva in the Death in the Family storyline.
Now look. I'm generally neutral about Asian race bend headcanons. In fact, as someone who's Asian, I think it's important for more Asian ethnicities to be represented, and represented well in media. But you achieve good representation by pinning down the specific experiences that are true to a culture and an ethnic background in a real world context. It has to make sense, and not exist based solely on nebulous ideas and stereotypes.
So with all that said, consider this: there is a subsection of fandom that loves to villainise Jack and Janet Drake as bad parents. Not just absent, but downright emotionally abusive or even physically abusive parents. While there's some evidence in canon of Jack being a less than stellar parent, the same cannot be said of Janet. Yet she seems to get the worse of it, more often than not portrayed in fics as a cold, terrifying woman who has high expectations for his son and only expresses her love conditionally.
If she were Asian, this is what we would call a "Tiger Mom". If Jack and Janet were both Asian, this would perpetuate the idea that Asian kids cannot expect their parents to love them healthily and unconditionally.
Now I'm not saying that every person who headcanons Tim as Asian also supports the "Tim's parents were abusive" fanon. But if you do subscribe to the headcanon that the Drakes were abusive and the headcanon that they are Asian at the same time, I would urge you to stop and examine why that is.
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