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ladyloveandjustice · 4 years

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Shadow of the Batgirl: A review type thing

I just read the graphic novel Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn and Nicole Goux, which reimagines the superhero origin of Cassandra Cain.

It was overall good and EXTREMELY cute! If you want an awesome story about a teenage assassin running away from her shitty dad and finding a neat library, a community of cool ladies and the hero within herself, AND WHY WOULDN’T YOU WANT THAT, definitely get this!

It’s a standalone Batgirl story completely accessible to all and with none of the weird baggage and the complicated continuity of the regular Batman universe! it’s appropriate for younger teens but still a good read for adults, the art’s colorful and great, it’s packed to the brim with joy and hope.

And on top of all that, it gives a great character who’s been traditionally horribly neglected by mainstream comics for some reason (*cough its because she’s not white cough*) a spotlight and a chance to shine (and get written by an Asian American author for once!)! This also features one of my other faves, who had her disability and adult identity erased in the main universe, but not in this comic, hurray!

SO YEAH, if you like superheroes at all, highly recommend this!

NOW for a more detailed review, calling on all my expertise as a Cassandra Cain superfan and going into pros and cons. This’ll be long, but I’ll do it as a list to break it down.

Let’s start with the good stuff, there’s a lot of it:

- This story takes place in world where Barbara Gordon as Oracle (and former Batgirl) and Cassandra Cain as Batgirl exist, but Batman and The Killing Joke do not appear to. That is honestly transcendentally great to finally see this as an officially realized concept, Batgirl allowed to stand on its own as a legacy of powerful women, with all history of these characters being victimized for the sake of manpain erased. I am elated.

-The art was adorable, the designs were great, the clothes and Cass’s costumes were super cute, the setting was vibrant.

-Jackie was a really fun character and mentor figure for Cass. Loved her snark and how she and Babs basically become Cass’s two Moms and an awesome team in their own right. The relationships in this were just heartwarming. Loved the range of characters in general.

-Cass basically lived in a library aka my life dream. I mean, she did it because she was homeless and on the run from her assassin father, but like.

-Cassandra FINALLY knows her own race, (she’s half-Chinese) and gets to have a goddamn connection and basic feelings about it (Jackie bringing up what the bat means to Chinese culture), etc, god it should not have taken this long for this to happen.

(And it’s really important to have a version of Cass’s story where, y’know, the positive inspirational figures in her life include other Asian people, they aren’t just white people. it wasn’t until I read this it fully dawned on me how screwed up it is she never had that before.)

-For the first time in her entire existence, Cassandra Cain got to be in a canon romance that wasn’t fucking awful, can you believe it. Her love interest Erik was adorable, and him being a budding romance writer was an especially sweet touch- and I think there’s an implication/hint his dad’s the Bronze Tiger? Which is really cute Easter Egg for Cass fans, considering she had a strong friendship with the dude in her original series!

-The idea of Cass liking to draw and expressing herself through art is really fun and fitting. Her being visually focused, it makes a lot of sense.

-Cass extending her body language ability to sort of being able to guess at people’s underlying emotional problems from how they carry themselves is a really neat idea- it could have been implemented a little more smoothly but I like the concept.

-Cass going after the “evil-doers” in the library after becoming a hero was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Deserves to be framed. I love what a huge nerd Cass got to be in this.

-The comic understood that core of Cass’s character is compassion and empathy, that how she reaches out for people, refuses to harm, and really believes in people and embodies change, rebirth, hope. THAT’S IT, THAT’S MY GIRL, THAT’S MY HERO..

-I’ve read a ton of comics with Barbara Gordon and this is the first one I’ve come across where she discussed her relationship with her mother having any sort of influence on her interests and personality, she isn’t even the main character of this and her mother matters more in it than every other comic I’ve read with her combined how sad is that

-I liked Babs just casually making gadgets and stuff all the time, and loved that she expressed she honestly preferred doing this and that was why she was giving Batgirl to Cass. MADE ME WANT TO SCREAM FUCK YOU DC ALL OVER AGAIN.

-Compared to the original Cass Batgirl comics, this story is obviously more accessible as a standalone, but it’s also just overall more appropriate for a wider range of ages since the darker elements of Cass’s story are way toned down. I was a young teenager when I read Cass’s series and was fine, but there are young teenagers that DON’T want like, graphic onscreen deaths in their comics, so it’s good there’s a lighter Cass story for them. It was just a really sweet, affirming story.

Now for some cons, none of them damning:

The romance was cute, but wish it’d had room to breathe. Ideally, it didn’t need to be happening alongside Cass’s origin, I think it would have been better if it was just hinted at and then was allowed to fully play out as an after-she-became-Batgirl thing, but I can get that Kuhn didn’t know if this would get a sequel and there were probably a lot of good reasons she wanted to include it.

-I think this came from Kuhn being used to writing as a YA author rather than doing comics, but it was weird to read a Cass comic with so much narration and the way it was used really detracted from the potential power of the story. We’re told through Cass’s super chatty narration she’s not a normal teen, she TELLS US that she barely knows how to read and speak and TELLS US she’s better at reading body language-but we never get a sense of this, not even at the beginning, because the story doesn’t trust the reader to take in the visuals without narration, and then she’s able to talk like a normal teen pretty much right off the bat.

I’m okay with Cass becoming a chatty girl, and her voice in this comic was fun- I know “silent Asian” has a lot baggage and Cass’s original character leaned into some stereotypes- but the first chapter/part would been far more powerful if it had her world be a little more silent and fully emphasized the visual, for her interactions with people and words be garbled and confusing, and if it gave us more of a sense of the world she comes from and how her perception of things differs from the average person. Cass’s original debut and the beginning of her original series did a really good job giving us a sense of this, and took great advantage of comics as a visual medium, and I missed that.

-Cass learns to read and talk SUPER EASILY and it just comes off as unbelievable. I do like the idea of her camping at a library, eavesdropping, and teaching herself, but I would have liked to see her actually struggle like a person would. Moreover, while I know the presentation of it was very flawed, Cass basically had a learning/language disability in the original series. I was kind of hoping this comic would lean into that, and actually give a more realistic and nuanced representation of that kind of disability (it could have been presented as something she always had that was exacerbated by how she was raised, not caused by it!).

Honestly, I think her romance with Erik would have been far more interesting and meaningful and tied in better if she’d actually struggled to read, maybe even discovered she was dyslexic and couldn’t quite read the same way he could. That could have been a source of development between them.

-David Cain’s a super flat as a character in this comic, he doesn’t have much presence, menacing or otherwise, and Cass’s complicated feelings and relationship with him is not nearly as painful as they were in her original series.This is partly because there wasn’t a lot of a space for it though, and that’s fine.

-Overall, the main thing that hurts the story is that we don’t see all that much of what Cass’s life was like as an assassin, and her life with David Cain was like. It’s harder to invest in Cass’s transformation into a hero when we don’t really have a sense of who she was before,it’s hard to appreciate her breaking free when we can’t get a sense of what kind of cage she was even in. How much language DID she know? How much of the world was she exposed to? What was she really deprived of? I hope if there’s a sequel we can see more of this.

-Babs isn’t the main character of course, so this isn’t a real complaint, but I did miss her cynical and angry edge. She’s pretty much just a chipper nerd with no sign of her own baggage in this, and it makes her relationship with Cass less interesting. It’s implied that her “accident” did affect her and she just managed to work through a lot of it before she met Cass, but I missed the element of their relationship where they both were hurting from losing “the world they knew” and working through it together, sometimes clashing, etc.

-I read one of Sarah Kuhn’s YA novels in anticipation of this, and while I’m relieved this is better about it than her first book was (I expected it to be, writers improve, I definitely know how messy a first book is) there’s still some cringe-y ideas of how “average” teens talk creeping in, occasional clunky pacing etc.

But all in all? It was a really nice little story that did a lot of cool things, and I really want a sequel and want more of this version of Cass and her universe. As someone who was driven away from DC comics in part because of how badly they treated Cass, Oracle and the Batgirl legacy. it’s really like a salve on old wounds.

#cassandra cain #batgirl #shadow of the batgirl #oracle #barbara gordon #sarah kuhn #graphic novels #dc comics #my reviews #reviews #batfamily #nicole goux

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awhitehead17 · 4 years

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Trust Is Like A Piece Of Paper

Tim & Steph & Cass, Fluff, Angst, Arguments, Mending Friendships, Hugs.

Summary: Tim's recently been ignoring all of Steph calls, too bad Cass won't let him get away with it any longer.

A/N: This is done for Amuk on AO3 for the Robin Christmas Exchange 2019.

Also on AO3

Enjoy! :D

He was laughing so hard that he couldn’t breathe. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, his stomach was beginning to cramp and his cheeks were hurting from where he was smiling so much. He was beginning to wheeze just because he couldn’t take a big enough breath to get air back into his lungs.

Opposite him Cass seemed to be in a similar state, though not as bad as he was. After all it was her fault he was so breathless to begin with.

He and Cass were sat in his apartment after a rough patrol. They hadn’t meant to be together, just halfway through the night they bumped into one another and stayed together. Good thing too because they came across a gang war which got messy pretty quickly. Cass had come away perfectly fine, not even breathless, while Tim was sporting a few new bruises and a small stab wound in his upper arm. He may be slightly sleep deprived which may have affected his performance.

After that fun adventure the two of them called it a night and ended up going back to Tim’s apartment. Before he could even say anything Cass was there pushing him down on the couch and going to grab his first aid kit. Knowing it wasn’t worth the fight, Tim allowed his sister to sew him up without much complaint.

Once he was sewed they got cleaned up, ordered some food and chilled out in his living room. It was nice and Tim was thoroughly enjoying himself, it’s been a long time since he last saw Cass and had a good catch up with her and he certainly can’t remember the last time he had a night like this after patrol.

While he was in the middle of his laughing fit, his phone starts to ring. As he pats around for it as he tries to get himself together enough to answer it, he takes a few deep breaths, but couldn’t help the occasional giggle as he does so. By the time he grabs it he’s calmed himself down enough to be able to breathe normally and hopefully to be able to talk properly without sounding breathless.

When he sees the caller ID he immediately sobers up, suddenly unable to find it in himself to even smile at that moment. He stares at his phone as it continue to rings, unable to make himself answer it. It’s when it finally stops that he turns it off and looks at Cass who was watching him with a steady glance. He sends her a smile despite knowing that she’ll be able to read straight through him.

He puts the phone on the coffee table in front of them and shrugs noncommittedly. “It’s nothing,” he lies, “just an unknown number.”

His sister doesn’t look convinced. He sits back into the sofa, not as relaxed as before, and tries to start up the conversation again with her. She wasn’t having any of it however, she stares at him for a long moment before glancing at his phone and back at him again.

Tim pouts and waves his hand around uselessly, “It’s fine Cass, it’s nothing.”

She’s still not taking his bullshit. Wordlessly she leans forward and reaches for his phone, before he could think it through and almost in a panic, Tim also reaches forward in order to stop her. As he should have expected it doesn’t go according to plan, in one quick movement she had his wrist locked between her fingers and his phone in her other hand.

Tim blinks at her in astonishment, just trying to comprehend what had happened. He loves Cass, he really does, but sometimes she scares the living daylight out of him.

As she lets him go she looks almost apologetic, together they both lean back into the sofa and Tim watches her closely as she opens his phone up and starts going through it. Whatever emotion she was feeling she doesn’t show it, or at least Tim couldn’t read her. He wasn’t as good at reading body language as she was.

A moment later she was looking up at him over the phone, this time she was letting her emotions show on her face. Confusion, worry and questioning. “Why you ignoring her?”

Tim looks away, feeling both ashamed and embarrassed. There was a lot on conflicting feelings he had and he had no idea on how to describe them, especially since they’re mostly all based around her.

He shrugs, “I – Its nothing.”

“It’s not nothing.” His sister replies back simply. “Nothing doesn’t have you like this.” She places the phone back down on the coffee table.

He refuses to make eye contact with her and shakes his head. “It’s complicated Cass. I just can’t speak to her right now. Our relationship, well whatever of it is left, is all kinds of complicated. After what she’s done and what I’ve been through its just…” he trails off not knowing how to finish the sentence.

His relationship with Steph was currently very bumpy. Before everything that had happened, they were fine, great even, but now he doesn’t know what he feels for her. For the past couple of weeks she had been trying to contact him outside of the capes, but every time he either ignores her calls or brushes her off with a ‘Sorry, I can’t, I’m busy’. He feels slightly bad for it but he just doesn’t know if he can face her and talk about everything between them.

It wasn’t surprising that Cass knew though. His sister just knows everything, it was creepy as it was enduring. Then again Steph has probably been talking to her, so Cass was getting her side of the story. That thought makes him a little uneasy, who knows what she’s been saying to his sister about him.

His leg getting nudged gets his attention, he looks over at Cass to find her staring at him. He turns away, frowning at the floor, “Cass I don’t think I can. I just can’t see her right now. With everything’s that’s happened, we won’t be the same. I don’t know if we can rekindle some kind of friendship once again, I mean I know I’m in a better place than what I was but even so…”

“You don’t know unless you try. Speak to her.”

“Cass…”

She firmly nudges his leg this time, almost pushing him off the couch. “Do it.”

He raises an eyebrow, “What? Now?” At her firm nod he looks at her incredulously. “Cass I don’t think I can.”

Clearly his sister has had enough of him because she’s suddenly leaning over and grabbing his phone off the coffee table once again.

“Hey!”

He reaches over to try and snatch his device back but Cass keeps him away with a painful grasp on his wrist. He watches helplessly as she begins to call someone.

“It’s Cass, hello, fine, come over now to talk. I’ll keep him here. Yes. Please, bye.”

Cass looks completely unapologetic as she lets him go and hands his phone back to him. “She’s bringing pizza, will be 10 minutes.”

Tim sends her a pleading look, “Please Cass come on, don’t make me stay.”

“You need to talk.”

Tim sighs heavily and melts into the back of the couch, resigning his fate. This is something he hadn’t planned for, something he hadn’t wanted to face yet.

It’s 15 minutes of anxious waiting until there was a knock at the door. Cass is the one to get up and answer it and soon enough Steph’s bubbly voice could be heard through the halls.

“I got PIZZA.”

A ton of feelings hit Tim as she rounds the corner and enters the living room. Happiness, giddiness, anxiousness, dread, guilt. He had no idea what he should be feeling as she places down the boxes of pizza on the table and grins at him.

He gives a weak smile and an awkward little wave. “Hey Steph.”

“Hey Boy Wonder, how are things?”

“Alright…”

Things go quiet and very quickly it becomes awkward. Tim looks down at the boxes while Steph shuffles uncomfortably from where she’s standing. Thankfully that’s when Cass, the saviour that she is, steps in and says, “Pizza?”

Steph picks up again then. “Oh yeah! Sorry I’m a little late, the pizza guys were taking forever in making them. I got two figuring that should be enough to cover us.”

That’s when she opens up the boxes and moves around the table so she’s sat on the couch with Tim, thankfully on the opposite side, Cass comes along and settles between them. They each reach in and grab a slice and start munching.

“So what happened to you guys tonight? Tough patrol?”

“We handled it,” Cass states firmly, but then she glances at Tim with a small smirk, “Well I did.”

He jabs his sister in the ribs, “Rude. Nothing more than a gang war, some idiot got a lucky shot in.”

Steph hums in agreement, understanding what he meant. The three of them fall silent again as they continue to eat. They easily demolish the first pizza and get started on the next. By then Tim was more than ready to run away. The silence was heavy and tense, it was starting to get to him. He figures he should turn the TV on or even the radio just so there was some sort of background noise because the quietness between them was super unsettling.

It was when they were halfway through the second pizza that the silence was finally broken. Cass jumps up between them, steps around the coffee and glares at the two of them, putting her hands on her hips and everything.

“You two need to talk. Now. Settle things. This is more harm than good.”

With Cass glaring at them like that, it made Tim feel like he was in school once again and was being scolded at by the teacher. He glances over to the side to find Steph staring back at him and quickly averts his gaze.

“Right…” he says meekly.

There was too much and too little for them to talk about. Even so what was he supposed to start with? I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you? I don’t know how I feel about you? What can we piece back together?

He’s saved though because it was Steph who talks first. “I know things are different, way different, to what they were before. But Tim, I’ve been trying to contact you, trying to fix what’s happened but you’re the one that’s been ignoring me, not the other way around.”

Tim swallows thickly, nosing slightly. “Yeah I know. Things are different and I – I have been ignoring you Steph.”

“Why?” She demands. She’s pissed off and hurt, Tim could hear it in her voice.

“Because I don’t know what I’m feeling Steph!” He says, almost shouting. He looks at her sharply. “I don’t know what to feel around you anymore. You betrayed me, you didn’t trust me. It was the wrong time, when everything was happening. I lost my dad, you faked your death and didn’t tell me, Bruce died, both Conner and Bart died, Dick took Robin away from me and then you guys all came back but then you betrayed me because Bruce told you so! I can’t forgive you for that Steph!”

“I was trying to protect you Tim!” She yells. Her anger is apparent in the way she jumps up to her feet and starts wildly gesturing. “Everything I did was to protect you! Bruce wanted to protect you!”

“What you did was wrong!” He shouts back also jumping to his feet. He was feeling hurt, angry and betrayed. “You betrayed my trust, went behind my back just so I could be a ‘better Robin’. You worked with the enemy, you faked your death and didn’t even tell me.”

“I did what I thought was right! I never wanted to hurt you Tim, I was only-”

“Well you did Steph! In the worst way possible.”

He was shaking now. His hands were trembling from where he was getting emotional with both frustration and hurt. He takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to control his breathing to try and calm himself down.

When it doesn’t really work, he’s way to wound up now for it too really work anyway, he shakes his head. “I can’t do this.” He mutters to no one. He couldn’t do it. Doesn’t want to do it. Wordlessly he turns away from Steph and starts making an exit, planning to leave and get some fresh air, just so he’s away from this situation, but a hand on his chest stops him from going.

He startles at the contact and looks wide eyed at Cass who was looking at him sympathetically. He had completely forgotten she was there.

His sister shakes her head, “Keep talking.” She demands gently.

“It’s not like you’ve been innocent this whole timer either Tim! Remember telling me to never get back in the costume?”

Steph says almost venomously behind him, another wave of anger washes through him but before he could retort she was speaking again, this time softer.

“But we’ve moved past that now, I want to make things right Tim! I’ve been trying to earn your trust back ever since, I thought we were getting better. What can I do to make this work? I know that you want it to work also, we can do this if you give it a chance to. Please.”

Most of her anger has left her voice now, she’s pleading him, begging him, but he still doesn’t know what to think or feel.

He turns away from Cass and glances at the blonde with an almost resigned sigh. “Steph, I love you, I do, but I don’t think I can trust you anymore, or at least to the extent I used to.”

She opens her mouth to speak up, he cuts her off before she could. “Trust is like a piece of paper Steph. Once it’s crumpled, or in this case ripped, you can try and flatten it out but it’ll never be perfect again. You lost my trust and I don’t know if I can ever trust you again.”

“I get that Tim. I do. Let me earn it back, however long it takes, I will try and get it back.”

Tim shakes his head disbelievingly, “Steph…”

“What about us being friends? Do you trust me enough that way. It doesn’t have to be capes Tim, our relationship doesn’t have to be that way. I want you in my life Tim, if this is the way we go about it then fine, I just want to be there for you, and you for me.”

Tim blinks at the floor trying to work out what’s going on. It hurts him to say that he doesn’t trust Steph, or if he will ever be able to again, but deep down he knows it’s true. He wants her in his life but just not the way they were before, would they be able to keep up some kind of relationship outside the caped community? That’s how they met after all.

Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea, if they both want it, both put in the effort, maybe they could get it to work after all. Maybe…. Well you never know until you try.

He turns to Steph, “Yeah okay… friends – just friends – outside of the caped community. We can give it a go I guess.”

Her face lightens up, looking hopeful and Tim suddenly feels nostalgic. “Really? You want to give it a go.”

He swallows thickly, “We’ll take it slow, things won’t go back to the way they were right away, probably won’t for a long time, but we’ll take it slow and see.”

Steph nods, “Yeah that’s right, exactly.” She steps forward then, towards in and holds up a hand. “Friends?”

He looks at her hand for a moment, hesitating. Was this a good idea? Should he do it? What if it all just blows up once again. He peers over his shoulder at Cass who was watching their interaction with an eagle eye, she catches his look and gives a firm nod. He turns back to Steph and grasps her hand.

“Friends.” He agrees.

She smiles at him and he couldn’t help but smile back. There’s still a part of him which thinks this is a terrible idea, after everything they’ve both been through they were not the same as they were at 14 and 15. On the other hand he’s getting more into the idea of giving it a go, considering how close they were once before they might make it work in the end.

Still holding onto his hand she slowly pulls him in and starts to wrap her arm around him, she does it so there’s plenty of time for him to pull away if he doesn’t want the hug. He surprises her though, he steps the rest of the way and wraps his own arms around her. They hug for a moment before Steph was pulling away but not letting go. She looks over his shoulder and makes a gesture with her hand, after a couple of seconds Tim feels a second body press up against his and he sees his sister fitting into the hug.

He smiles at her, and wraps one arm around her and the other over Steph and holds them both. Things weren’t good before but hopefully now they’ll get better.

#Tim Drake #Stephanie Brown #cassandra cain #arguments #angst #fluff #fanfiction #friendship #Hugs #robin christmas exchange

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fallingin-like · 5 years

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november 7

call me neil by @fox-sleeping-minyard

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

this wonderful fic follows andrew and neil in an au where they form a friendship as kids/teens after andrew dials the wrong number and accidentally calls neil. this fic is cute, but may also break your heart.

i really like the idea of them knowing each other before palmetto, even more so because they didn’t know what each other looked like! following neil around was kind of fun (even though he was running from his mob boss father with his abusive mother) and he’s so loyal to andrew, calling him even when he knew he wasn’t allowed to. i was always nervous that mary would discover that he was speaking to andrew!!

things that stood out to me:

”really, all that had happened to him was his own fault. if only he was more loveable, people wouldn’t have such a hard time with him” this is so heartbreaking!! i really can’t describe how sad this is. it makes me so mad that people out there are so awful and terrible.

the BaBY! bless this little baby for saving andrew’s life.

i’m proud of andrew for calling the hotline! i can’t imagine how scary that must have been. although i imagine that there is safety/comfort in the anonymity that is why these hotlines are used.

ahh even back in these days, neil/alex finding refuge on a roof (albeit a car roof). can you imagine how nervous he must of been to be talking on the phone while his mother is sleeping in the car right under him?!?

bless this part:

neil: i will fight whoever is mean to you

andrew: i am mean to me

neil: get ready to fight me then

andrew must have been like ‘what is up with this dude neil because he is changing phones every 0.2 seconds’

neil understanding andrew’s boundaries! with the bit about him asking why andrew was calling and andrew just replying no. neil didn’t insist, he just moved the conversation along, knowing that andrew would bring it up if/when he was comfortable with it. to me, this is such a huge component of why they are able to have such a close and intense relationship. they’ve spent so much time with bad people that being able to trust someone else with themselves is something special. they both respect each other and by doing that they know they can allow themselves to be vulnerable and know they will not be taken advantage of

”when he turned and looked out the window as the tube slowly started its way, he smiled and waved at the man who had been following him since he got his chocolate bars” ahh this was brilliant! i love the nonchalant way that neil did this, he’s so cheeky and it really fits with his personality in the actual books.

uGH whenever i see the name drake my heart drops. what a horrible person. even worse when they haven’t realized it yet!

I LOVE THAT NICKY AND NEIL MET IN GERMANY. it’s a real soft spot for me because no matter how much i know that the chances of this are so so tiny in real life, it’s just such a nice thought. i’d love to see something on what happens when nicky and neil realise that they met each other! i’d assume that neil would figure out first, but it would be super interesting if nicky was the one to piece it together. maybe neil somehow mentions what school he way at or their teacher and nicky is like ‘hold on a moment that seems a Little Bit Too Familiar’

hhh why didn’t andrew call for sO LOng??

you are actually killed me a little bit when andrew refuses to get away from cass’ place after drake touches him. i just. ahhh. at the same time, it does give us a better understanding of andrew in this universe. that even though neil is with him, he still is so stuck on staying with the spear’s and can’t be convinced otherwise. and also i think it’s really important to acknowledge that it’s improvement because andrew is sharing! he is actually telling neil about what’s happening instead of keeping it totally to himself like in canon.

”’i didn’t expect anything else, after all they’re my family.’ andrew sounded cold and disinterested when he said this and neil believed him” NOOOOOO

cannot even imagine what andrew must have been going through in juvie. all those meds? even when they found a partly decent one he must have been absolutely miserable.i just want nice things for these boys who have gone through so much ;-;

NEIL SEEING A PICTURE OF ANDREW FOR THE FIRST TIME AHHHH also, if this is nothing like he had imagined him, what did neil imagine him to look like?

NEIL CALLING ANDREW FOR THE FIRST TIME INSTEAD OF THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!! Love the POV change, it’s amazing to see this from his side.

oh nO when neil doesn’t answer the door when andrew is knocking?? hurts so good

i find it really interesting that neil isn’t disguised? i would have thought that he would have either dyed his hair or been wearing contacts.

NEIL CRYING INTO ANDREW IS SO SOFT

at first i thought that neil seemed a bit dramatic with his reaction to seeing kevin, but then i realised that hE HAD JUST SEEN HIS MOTHER BE KILLED BY HER FATHER AND HAD TO BURY HER REMAINS ON SOME RANDOM BEACH AND THEN MET THIS PERSON HE’D BEEN TALKING WITH ONLINE FOR YEARS FOR THE FIRST TIME. and then i realised that he was almost definitely overwhelmed in that moment and quite emotional so he has good right to react that way. also kevin recognized him right away too which would be quite startling

i really liked being able to see both perspectives of what’s happening in the beginning. we get to see how andrew and neil react differently to the same situation. but it’s kind of nice you switched to only andrew’s POV after a while because it definitely added suspense/made things more confusing (in a good way. real life is very confusing, who knows what’s going on?) you did an amazing job following neil around, i appreciate all the name changes! i do wonder if neil actually referred to himself as whatever persona he was taking on at the time in his thoughts as well?

this was a really interesting read, i like the way you were able to explore the changes that occurred because neil and andrew were in contact at such a young age and were able to support each other through everything.

thanks so much for writing this!

#call me neil #aftg fic review #raelle writes

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sebeth · 6 years

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Pull List Thoughts

My thoughts on my Pull List as of 1/19/18 –

Attack on Titan: I don’t read much manga but the anime had me by the end of the second episode. I have loved both the manga and anime ever since. Highly recommended!

Batgirl and the Birds Of Prey: The title sadly continues its mediocrity. It’s not horrible but it’s not great. I’m only continuing for Helena. New 52 Babs and Dinah are not my Babs and Dinah. Helena has also changed but I loved her in Grayson. Unfortunately, the current writers aren’t capable of writing “Grayson” Helena either but she’s one of the few characters I’ll follow for better or worse.

Batman: I haven’t been interested in Batman – sans his family – for a long time but I love Tom King’s writing (Omega Men, Grayson, Mister Miracle, the Vision – all superb) so I’ve caught up via trades and I am now buying it monthly. The recent two-part “Date Night” was great – I really enjoy Lois and Selina becoming close friends.

Bitch Planet: The Triple Features vary in quality. I hope we return to the main storyline soon. Recommended for fans of sci-fi, prison stories, or female leads.

Black Magick: Greg Rucka continues to bring the quality writing. A bit slow-paced but well worth it. Recommended for fans of urban fantasy.

Blue Beetle: The last few arcs have not been the best but Ted Kord ranks up there with Helena on characters I follow no matter the quality. Jaime, Brenda, and Paco are always fun and one of my favorite friendships in comics.

Copperhead: A very underrated series. Think sci-fi meets western. Clara, sheriff and single mom, is fast becoming one of my favorite females in comics. Recommended for fans of science fiction, westerns, police, aliens, androids, and female leads.

Deathstroke: Priest is one of my all-time favorite writers. Add in the twisted dynamics of the Wilson family and you have a definite winner.

Detective Comics: Detective Comics could easily be re-named “The Bat-Family” and that’s why I love it: Bruce, Tim, Steph, Cass, Kate, Luke, Jean-Paul, Basil, and Lonnie feature heavily in the title. Dick, Alfred, Jason, Damian, and Bette make occasional cameos. Awesome!

Doomsday Clock: A bit slow-paced but I love all the tiny details in each issue.

Gotham City Garage: Loving this Elseworlds -it combines a dystopian future with lots of motorcycles. A very poor description but the series is a blast. Give it a shot – the digital issues are only a dollar a piece.

Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica: A fun series featuring three of my favorite women in comics (Not a Harley fan).

Injustice 2: I love this series despite the numerous deaths. Constant deaths in comics irritate me (death has become meaningless in comics because of the constant use of this shock tactic) but it’s an elseworlds so the rules are different. My main problem is Harley’s role as a “good guy” in the series. Harley has a body count of millions(!), was a main player in the tragedy that led to Superman’s downfall and yet she’s on the same team as Batman (Mr. We Don’t Kill)?! Yep, that makes total sense.

Lazarus: Another excellent series by Greg Rucka. I love the dystopian future, the twisted family dynamics, the warring Houses, the changing alliances. Love Game of Thrones? Give Lazarus a shot.

Marvel Two-In-One: Johnny and Ben on the road to a Fantastic Four reunion. Great writing, gorgeous art.

Nightwing: The re-hash of Dixon’s Bludhaven run was fairly “meh”. I was severely disappointed in the ending of the Dick and Helena relationship. I didn’t have much hope for a lengthy relationship but the break-up was so badly written I checked to see if someone other than Tim Seely wrote it. I’m giving the new writer a shot – hopefully, we’ll see new villains instead of more “The Dixon Years: The Re-Mix”.

Red Hood and The Outlaws: Jason, Artemis, and Bizarro are a great trio. Is it bad that I’m hoping for the return of dumb Bizarro?

Strangers In Paradise XXV: Loved the original series, looking forward to the new series.

Super Sons: Pure adorable cuteness.

The Terrifics: The series doesn’t start until next month but the Fantastic Four are one of my favorite teams and I’m looking forward to DC’s take on the team. Tom Strong is icing on the cake.

The Wild Storm: I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Image launch back in the 90’s but Cyberforce and the Wildstorm studio were guilty pleasures of mine. The Wildstorm titles had several great writers – Warren Ellis, Alan Moore and James Robinson. The current reboot by Warren Ellis is excellent – deeply layered with new twists on the characters and organizations.

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