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The Intangible Starslip Is Complete!
Well, the story is finished! Here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11443191/chapters/25645737
I just want to thank everyone who helped and supported this project, as well as those who have made fan art of Starslip. Thank you to my proofreader N. Harmonik, my LSBFF Teagan (little sister best friend forever), Catherine, Ben, Tim, Christy and Jeff (not me, different Jeff, lol), my GF Unbeatable Emmy-chan, Arkle, Chloe, Nikki-Lee, Rob, Ian, Jeremy, KoalaTheArtist, UniComicRN, EverydayBattman, EverHobbes, artisticamara, Jiubeck, delightfully-drawing, and JonasLull. And my thanks to anyone who might do fan art of Starslip in the future.
Also, I want to thank people who helped inspire this endeavour. Thank you to Bryan Q. Miller, Scott Snyder, Gail Simone, K. A. Applegate, and you guessed it, Lewis Lovhaug. Thank you all for being the outstanding people you are.
Happy Birthday to ME! ^_^ + 10 Favourite DC Superheroes
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me! lol Okay, I’m not gonna do that the whole post, but I felt like bringing it up. And so, on this day that I turn 28, I decided to do two lists of my favourite superheroes, 10 from DC and 10 from Marvel. Let’s start with DC, since I’m honestly more of a DC guy than Marvel. I will elaborate on which interpretations of each character I prefer.
#1 – Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman
Yeah, be honest, you knew this was coming. In fact, I don’t know a single person who likes superheroes who doesn’t have Batman in their Top 10. I think it’s because there’s so many different interpretations of the character, thus allowing different people of different likes/dislikes to get into the character. Be it the comics, the 90’s cartoon, heck even the 60’s live action series, there’s plenty of interpretations of Batman to go around. Me personally, my favourite interpretations of the character are from Batman: The Animated Series and the Scott Snyder comics, neither of which should surprise anyone. lol
#2 – Clark Kent, AKA Superman
Ahh, the original template for the superhero in the 20th Century. Superman is the physical embodiment of hope, just as Batman is justice and Wonder Woman is truth. His feats are legendary, his abilities are unmatched, and his sheer power is only outdone by his sheer will and the strength of his heart. My favourite takes on the character are probably All-Star Superman and, again, the DCAU, although they perhaps showed him getting slapped around a bit too often there.
#3 – Stephanie Brown, AKA Batgirl
Hands down, my favourite super-heroine of all time. Sure, there are plenty who are faster, stronger, more intelligent, or more inventive, but Stephanie Brown is by far the most entertaining to read for her wit, her charm, and her never-say-die attitude. Obviously, my favourite take on the character is from Bryan Q. Miller‘s Batgirl title. But, to be fair, I have to pay homage to the original super-heroine…
#4 – Diana Prince, AKA Wonder Woman
As I said, Superman embodies hope, Batman upholds justice, and Wonder Woman is the spirit of truth. I get the feeling that perhaps one reason a lot of people tend to write poor Diana in such a botched up manner is because she is both the most compassionate super-heroine of all in DC while also the best fighter. However, my favourite interpretation of the character seemed to get the balance just write: Gail Simone‘s take on Wonder Woman.
#5 – Wally West, AKA The Flash
Yeah, I know I keep going on about this, but I seriously miss Wally West. Barry Allen is just not interesting as The Flash. The only comic strip I have ever read that has Barry written in a way that makes him fun to read is JL8, and that’s not even written by anyone in DC…for some bizarre reason. There’s actually a rumour going around that Wally is the new Reverse-Flash, with his memories of the pre-Flashpoint Earth intact and his sanity broken by how much the universe has changed and how his idol is responsible for it all. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I can conceivably see it working, provided it ends with Wally regaining his sanity, possibly even becoming a good guy version of Reverse-Flash. Anyway, my favourite interpretations of Wally are from the Justice League cartoon and The Titans, AKA Linkara’s favourite comic series. lol
#6 – Rachel Roth, AKA Raven
Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS! Yeah, no big surprise here, but my favourite interpretation of Raven is from the Teen Titans cartoon. The version of her from The Titans where she was just a golden ghostly form was pretty awesome too, but c’mon, Raven was awesome there. She was dark, powerful, sarcastic, and honestly could be more fun than Beast Boy most times. And the excellent voice acting of Tara Strong only made her even more awesome.
Noticing a pattern here: Everyone here is either JLA, Titans, and/or Batman Incorporated. And in Tim Drake’s case, he could easily qualify all three someday. The only other hero besides Batman to have earned the title of ‘Detective’ from Ra’s al Ghul, Tim Drake is my favourite Robin (and no, I don’t care if his time as Robin is retconned or not, even as Red Robin, he still counts toward the group). I can’t really pick out an individual take on the character that I prefer most, but probably one the best stories to involve him is the aforementioned confrontation with Ra’s, especially the crossover stuff with Steph in Batgirl.
#8 – Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl
I’ve only recently gotten into Supergirl’s storylines, but honestly, I find her very interesting. I think I might just like her more than Superman. Her stories in the New 52 are higher quality than Supes’ (seriously, I’m at the point where I’m ready to BEG Scott Snyder to write the best damned Superman book he possibly can), her disguise is better than Clark’s, and she’s even potentially stronger than him since her body absorbs yellow sun energy faster.
#9 – Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl
Yeah, I brought up my personal favourite Batgirl, but this one deserves a spot in my 10 Favourite DC Heroes as well: Barbara Gordon. Be she the badass super-heroine, Batgirl, or the techno wizard who served as the eyes and ears of the entire Justice League, Oracle, Barbara is straight up awesome. My favourite takes on the character? Well, there’s Gail Simone’s writing, regardless of pre or post Flashpoint, and then her appearances in Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl, where she basically served as the old Bruce to Stephanie’s Terry McGinnis.
#10 – Shayera, AKA Hawkgirl
Ahhh, yet another badass woman in DC, Hawkgirl is among the highest ranking of her field. You get in her way, expect to wake up in a hospital bed the next day. And once again, my favourite interpretation of her is from the Justice League cartoon, though I also really like Kendra Saunders in Earth 2. What’s odd about that is that, really, they’re not all that alike at all, possibly the most different of the Earth 2 counterparts.
Anyway, that’s it for my 10 Favourite DC Superheroes. And if yer wondering why Green Lantern isn’t on here, it’s mostly because I couldn’t decide on which one to put on here, be it Alan Scott of Earth 2 or John Stewart from the Justice League cartoon. As such, just consider them tied for #11. Anyway, next time I will check out my 10 favourite heroes from Marvel. Ja né!
What I’d Do With The New 52 Part 05: My First 52 Titles (14 – 26)
I’m back again, and here to talk about the next 13 issues of what I would have planned for the New 52 if I were in charge of it. And for people wondering why the first 13 issues were so similar to what was actually done, basically I wanted to get them out of the way first. Also, just as a note, for The Flash, probably what I’d do if Barry and Wally were both in it is have Barry wear a modified version of his Blue Lantern Flash outfit, just to keep them unique in style and also to make the red on the Justice League a little lessened with Barry on there. So with that said, let’s kick this off with…
Sorry to fans of Suicide Squad, but I just feel that keeping the Secret Six around under the penning of Gail Simone would make a much better villain’s book, so I’d replace Suicide Squad with this. Would probably involve most of the previous team getting out of jail, though I’d likely sub out Bane for Harley Quinn or Giganta or somebody like that and make Scandal the leader. Maybe not right away, but pretty soon to give way for what happens later on in Talon. But speaking of Gail Simone, let’s talk about a couple other books she’s helmed…
Pretty much the same as Batgirl was originally (dammit, still need to review The Darkest Reflection), save for a few things. Yeah, what a shocker, I’d want Stephanie Brown in once or twice as a recurring character. Sorry, I just love Steph as a character so much, and her team with Barbara was amazing, and seeing the two working together would be incredible. Maybe even get Black Bat in on the fun. The other thing (again, what a shock), I WOULDN’T FIRE HER. lol
Okay, clearly I can’t have her writing 4 books at once, but I would definitely want whoever was writing Birds of Prey to have her input and whatnot. With Birds of Prey, there’s a couple of things I’d want changed. First off, put Huntress back on. There is no reason she can’t at least be a loosely affiliated member of the team. Second, PUSH THE F’ING BUTTON ON THE KURT LANCE SIDEPLOT! We are now 19 issues in, and they’re still doing this! Third, I’d probably want Goldrush on there at some point so we at least know something about her before she appears in Justice League.
Okay, once again, I need to stress that I’m not saying that the Justice League Dark we got sucked. I would never say that, This is just what I would do with the team, and what I would do can be summed up in one word: Raven. Basically, Madame Xanadu senses that Trigon is back and causing all kinds of paranormal havoc while trying to reach through dimensions, so she calls Raven, Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, and a few others, possibly even Elongated Man since he’s a ghost detective. And speaking of Justice Leagues…
Really, the only thing I’d change with Justice League International is that I probably wouldn’t have as much of a rotating door roster on the group. That really bugged me how at the halfway point, half the team either died, got de-powered, or otherwise left the group.
Frak no, I ain’t changing anything with Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.! And if you need to know why, look no further than Issue 3, where Frankenstein jumps into a giant spider monster’s mouth and does THIS!
‘Nuff said, moving on…
Again, wouldn’t change much about Animal Man, except I wouldn’t kill the kid and thus possibly separating the family, I would’ve likely wanted to involve Beast Boy at some point, and I would’ve wasted a lot less time getting to the crossover with Swamp Thing.
…Leave me alone, that was the best logo for Spoiler I could find. lol Anyway, I’d naturally want Bryan Q. Miller on this book, and basically have it continue from where his Batgirl run left off, with Steph becoming Spoiler again and continuing her operations along with Proxy. I imagine her attire would be similar to the Nightwing attire we saw in the last issue, except with her usual hair instead of the buzzcut. As for what I’d replace, probably Batman: The Dark Knight.
Well, this is where fans of David Zavimbe and the original arc of Batwing are gonna kill me, but I think I’d want to start off with the Luke Fox arc. Sorry guys, I just like what they’re doing here more, and I’ll hopefully be able to explain why tomorrow after Free Comic Book Day.
Not really anything I’d change plot wise with Supergirl, but…Well, I guess I’d just wanna change the costume. Maybe something akin to this…
…except that the pants would have to blend in better with the costume.
…Yes, believe it or not, I WOULD have Red Hood and the Outlaws be around. I would do a few changes, though: I’d have Lian be brought back, I’d have Chesire on the team, I would have Starfire NOT be a skank and instead just be an amnesiac, and I think I’d add Scarlet (because I otherwise have no idea what happened to her with the reboot) and a couple of anti-heroes and/or d-list villains to balance the team out.
Again, like with Batwing, I’d want to start Green Arrow off with the current arc by Jeff Lemire. While I don’t buy it since I’m not a big Green Arrow fan, I have read it in the stands, and trust me, it’s a LOT better.
Believe it or not, I would want Worlds’ Finest writer Paul Levitz to write Catwoman, pretty much as she acted in Worlds’ Finest #0. Why? Because she actually ACTED like Catwoman! I am so SICK of how Catwoman’s been in her book. I know I said that since they changed writers that it got better, but since then, it got WORSE. Want a good example of it? Check out Catwoman #18. That ONE issue is the best example I can give on what’s wrong with the book.
And that’s half the books down already. Next time, I’ll talk books 27 – 39, but tomorrow, I attend Free Comic Book Day at GameZilla! See y’all there!
What I Bought Today – Batgirl #18, Bruce Wayne The Road Home: Batgirl (WARNING – SPOILERS)
Well, it’s…erm, Thursday, so that means it’s time to check out…
So yeah, because I stayed in yesterday with a headache (and because it was flooding on the East side), I ended up missing Batman #18 and Batman and Robin #18, meaning I missed the two comics that are giving everyone ‘the feels’, as the kids like to call ’em these days. Good news is, while I was there, I found a little something I’d been looking for for a while, so we got ourselves a double helping of Batgirl today! So let’s start with Batgirl #18.
First off, I just want to say that the next few books with the Requiem logo on them better damned sure have more to do with Damian‘s passing than the last couple I’ve read. Now admittedly, there is one really good scene where Batman tells Commissioner Gordon what happened, but other than that and a few tears shed by Barbara (who I’m not even completely sure had much in the way of interaction with Damian), not much lending to the Requiem bit.
Other than that, this issue is the end of Ray Fawkes’ run with Batgirl, and…yeah, kinda glad it’s over with. Admittedly, Ray Fawkes does show some talent here, and Batgirl herself is written okay, but some of the choices he makes with this and the previous issue are kinda iffy. In particular, he honestly makes Jim Gordon Jr. an even bigger freak than I personally feel is necessary. Good news is, next month we get Gail Simone back! YAY!
DAMMIT, I miss Stephanie Brown! T_T
Okay, here’s the thing: I have all of Bryan Q. Miller‘s run on Batgirl that are within the actual numbered issues, but there was one comic that I was missing. Well today, I finally got the one I was looking for, Bruce Wayne The Road Home: Batgirl. For those that don’t know, Bruce Wayne The Road Home is the tale of Bruce deciding to test the various Bat Family members while he’s in the process of recruiting for Batman Incorporated. As usual, Mr. Miller reminds me of why Stephanie Brown is my favourite Batgirl: She’s witty, charming, spunky, and just plain fun. And really, what can I say about a Batgirl that does THIS to Batman (in this exact comic, actually)?
I rest my case. lol
Anyway, I should be getting Batman #18 and Batman and Robin #18 in a couple of weeks. Until then, c’mon back next week as I check in on Nightwing and the Justice League of America. Ja né!
A Tribute to Stephanie Brown
Well yesterday I decided to do up to things in relation to Stephanie Brown, AKA Batgirl, AKA Spoiler, AKA the fourth Robin. The first is a poster of a humorous moment between her and Livewire. Readers of the comic should know all about that.
The other is a short slideshow to the song “Nobody’s Perfect”, by Miley Cyrus…and NO, I am not a fan of Hannah Montana, I just thought the song suited the character. lol
Whether you think Stephanie Brown was the favourite Batgirl or not, regardless, I think most of us can agree she did not deserve to be seemingly completely dropped in the DC reboot. So if you like, love, or feel even remotely affectionate for this character, please support Waffles For Steph, a cause that hopes to eventually convince DC to bring Stephanie Brown back.
Jyger's Rant 