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May. 14th, 2004 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenygalI did not read NIGHTWING #93. I have no plans to do so. Therefore I have no opinions to offer except that it sounds extremely disturbing, but everybody seems to agree on that anyway.
I'm of two minds about the Trigon/Brother Blood thing. On the one hand, it makes a certain amount of sense, it adds resonance to Blood's relationship to Raven back when, and it doesn't contradict anything I'm aware of. On the other hand...I frankly dislike tying everything in a comic together. It seems, well, contrived that two of the Titans' major bad guys should suddenly turn out to be linked. (Also, by my count the Church of Blood spent as much time and energy on Dick as they did on Raven--who they went after once, although it was quite an extended plot--and for reasons which were much less clear. And yes, that provides feeding ground for some really disturbing bunnies...) But Geoff is obviously using this to serve a plot, not just having the bad guy stand there and cackle about how he's been behind every attempt to kill the hero in the last fifteen years, so I'll get over it.
I gather I need to read TT #1/2. On the hand, it mildly annoys me that I have to track it down; on the other hand at least Geoff made sure to point to it. And quite possibly most of the readers of this book do not find "what the hell is going on with Rose and Deathstroke?!" as much of a priority/problem as I do. Geoff also nails the one good reason why Rose would be working with Slade--not to mention remembering her apparent precognitive ability--and I apologize for assuming that he wouldn't. Research happened, here.
Gar? And Raven? Unbelievably sweet. There was a lot of Raven goodness going on here, in fact; it's largely a reset, but it's one that works okay with things that have happened since, and the original conception of Raven was a good strong one. I'm perfectly happy to go with this. (Unless they bring Trigon back. Then I'll have to scream.)
The stuff with Tim doesn't honestly work for me--I think I'm feeling that last issue he was so extreme about "what we may have to do" that he was out of character, and when he snaps back to the heroic party line this issue I get whiplash. (Yes, I get that sometimes people change their minds when they're actively confronted with something. Still didn't click with me.)
But hell, I was barely paying attention to Tim anyway, because I was busy watching Kory. Who...oh man. In general I've liked Geoff's portrayal of Kory; I think she's a little overly in places--I don't think she would have actually started that fight with Wonder Woman, for example--but overall it's the best take on her I've seen in a good while. (If the word "tinfoil" gives you traumatic flashbacks, you know what I'm talking about. If not, be grateful.) And so here she makes this deal with Slade, and...I wasn't sure what to make of it. Throughout the rest of the issue, I kept spinning it around in my head, playing with Kory's motivations and reactions, wondering if Tim was right, wondering how her history with Raven played into it...and then she said *that*. And I'm just. Oh my god. My girl. My lovely, pragmatic girl. Of course she lied. Of course she could care less what she tells the bad guy in the service of keeping all her friends alive. I love her so, so much--and I'm pretty fond of Geoff right this moment, too. (That said, I thought the line about the kids teaching her to do it was dumb. What, like that was the first time in her entire far-too-eventful history she'd ever encountered the concept of lying? But that's a minor quibble.)
I don't, at present, have any opinion about Jericho's appearance. I'm not enthusiastic, but Geoff might surprise me.
Really need to catch up on my commenting, especially with all the stuff![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
badficwriter's been doing...
I'm of two minds about the Trigon/Brother Blood thing. On the one hand, it makes a certain amount of sense, it adds resonance to Blood's relationship to Raven back when, and it doesn't contradict anything I'm aware of. On the other hand...I frankly dislike tying everything in a comic together. It seems, well, contrived that two of the Titans' major bad guys should suddenly turn out to be linked. (Also, by my count the Church of Blood spent as much time and energy on Dick as they did on Raven--who they went after once, although it was quite an extended plot--and for reasons which were much less clear. And yes, that provides feeding ground for some really disturbing bunnies...) But Geoff is obviously using this to serve a plot, not just having the bad guy stand there and cackle about how he's been behind every attempt to kill the hero in the last fifteen years, so I'll get over it.
I gather I need to read TT #1/2. On the hand, it mildly annoys me that I have to track it down; on the other hand at least Geoff made sure to point to it. And quite possibly most of the readers of this book do not find "what the hell is going on with Rose and Deathstroke?!" as much of a priority/problem as I do. Geoff also nails the one good reason why Rose would be working with Slade--not to mention remembering her apparent precognitive ability--and I apologize for assuming that he wouldn't. Research happened, here.
Gar? And Raven? Unbelievably sweet. There was a lot of Raven goodness going on here, in fact; it's largely a reset, but it's one that works okay with things that have happened since, and the original conception of Raven was a good strong one. I'm perfectly happy to go with this. (Unless they bring Trigon back. Then I'll have to scream.)
The stuff with Tim doesn't honestly work for me--I think I'm feeling that last issue he was so extreme about "what we may have to do" that he was out of character, and when he snaps back to the heroic party line this issue I get whiplash. (Yes, I get that sometimes people change their minds when they're actively confronted with something. Still didn't click with me.)
But hell, I was barely paying attention to Tim anyway, because I was busy watching Kory. Who...oh man. In general I've liked Geoff's portrayal of Kory; I think she's a little overly in places--I don't think she would have actually started that fight with Wonder Woman, for example--but overall it's the best take on her I've seen in a good while. (If the word "tinfoil" gives you traumatic flashbacks, you know what I'm talking about. If not, be grateful.) And so here she makes this deal with Slade, and...I wasn't sure what to make of it. Throughout the rest of the issue, I kept spinning it around in my head, playing with Kory's motivations and reactions, wondering if Tim was right, wondering how her history with Raven played into it...and then she said *that*. And I'm just. Oh my god. My girl. My lovely, pragmatic girl. Of course she lied. Of course she could care less what she tells the bad guy in the service of keeping all her friends alive. I love her so, so much--and I'm pretty fond of Geoff right this moment, too. (That said, I thought the line about the kids teaching her to do it was dumb. What, like that was the first time in her entire far-too-eventful history she'd ever encountered the concept of lying? But that's a minor quibble.)
I don't, at present, have any opinion about Jericho's appearance. I'm not enthusiastic, but Geoff might surprise me.
Really need to catch up on my commenting, especially with all the stuff
badficwriter's been doing...
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 11:59 am (UTC)2) Gar and Raven were so sweet. Johns' Gar has been such a joy for me. Just mature enough not to want to smack upside the head, but still so very essentially him.
3) Kory. I love that they're drawing her all muscly. I love that she's fiery and emotional and just this side of out-of-control contained energy because that's what she should be without her traditional checks -- Dick, Donna -- around to keep her from being the more impetuous part of herself. And she's so very self-aware, so very conscious that she doesn't operate within the parameters that everyone else is used to... and she wants to be a role model and guiding force anyway.
4) Amen (no pun intended) on the hesitation to embrace the linking of Brother Blood and Trigon. It's too neat. Also... Trigon was a rather straightforward evil, your standard world conquoror. Brother Blood was so good at being stickily and pervasively and inventively evil. Brainwashing, cults, blackmail, politics, murder... I don't want them linked.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 12:15 pm (UTC)http://titanstower.com/source/homelinks/titanshalf.html
It looks like Slade hired Ravager number whatever to kill Rose's parents, then offed HIM, and Rose...snapped. That's about all the reason there is.
Gar and Raven. Geoff nailed it. Lovely moment. Broke my heart for Raven, again, reminding me why she was once a favorite Titan.
And Kory....yeah. Rocked. :) I took her "the new Titans taught me to lie" as more of a snark at Tim than an actual fact, given his sneaking out on her after he said he wouldn't a couple of issues back.
I can *almost* buy the Trigon-Blood link, but it is far too neat, and also would have preferred the "well, she's a demon's daughter = power potential" rationale.
...and there I had managed to forget the tinfoil. *shuddering*
no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 04:06 pm (UTC)Now I'm staring to become really curious about this tinfoil reference...
no subject
Date: 2004-05-14 07:01 pm (UTC)I am just a little annoyed at the inability to craft a new villain and go hey! I can do that better, so ill just write a new chapter or hey since it's in vogue I will revise history of a character and pretend anything I dont like isnt cannon anymore.
Shrugs it's things like that that drive me away from books no matter how good the rest of it is.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 02:06 am (UTC)2) So very very very sweet. (Actually, I wonder if the healing bit was a deliberate reflection of a scene in the cartoon, but I really don't care if it was; it doesn't feel at all forced.) I need to go back and reread the earlier issues, because right now all I'm actually remembering is that I hate the name "Beast Boy." :)
3) Geoff's Kory feels like he took the character and what she's endured and where she currently is and integrated them all to get this...cannonball of a character. I'm liking it an awful damn lot, and not just because I was sick of writers ignoring everything she'd been through. And he put the plants on top of it to remind us that yes, there's more to her than "Starbolts! Hit things! Warrior spirit!"
4) Okay, I read your and 'Rith's comments, and I went back and read the Annual that had the Brother Blood origin, and I'm retracting even my limited support for this idea. Where is this "voice" business coming from? The origin of Blood is rooted in a holy and/or mystical shawl--allegedly the "Prayer Shawl of Christ," although it's just allegedly--plus the blood of his enemies. Add to the fact that there are perfectly good extant reasons for Blood to be interested in Raven, that it's just not true that the Church spent a disproportionate amount of time going after her, that they're actually two very different styles of bad guys...just about the only thing it might have going for it is that it's useful for Geoff to set Raven up as destined to destroy the world. But you know, between her actual heritage and the genuine supernatural creepiness underlying the Church, I bet he could have found a way to tell this story without the retcon. Thumbs down, unless there turns out to be a really good story hanging on this. (Also, again, unless it resurrects Trigon. Or Trigon-possessed anyone. In that case it will automatically become a story totally without merit. Because I say so. :)
Okay, but I warned you.
Date: 2004-05-15 02:11 am (UTC)And no, it wasn't a humor story.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 02:20 am (UTC)I took her "the new Titans taught me to lie" as more of a snark at Tim than an actual fact, given his sneaking out on her after he said he wouldn't a couple of issues back.
Works for me much better as a snark, and I intend to read it that way from now on. ;)
I can *almost* buy the Trigon-Blood link, but it is far too neat
See my response to Nika.
...and there I had managed to forget the tinfoil. *shuddering*
I promise never to mention it again. Unless I really need to snark. ;)
Re: Okay, but I warned you.
Date: 2004-05-15 02:23 am (UTC)You should post scans of the Titans all wearing tinfoil hats to
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 02:41 am (UTC)But I take your larger point: there's nothing new here, just new twists on old things. Good old things, but still--if Marv Wolfman had written like this we'd never have had the classic NTT Geoff is drawing off of. I know he can create, and well, because he's been doing it over on FLASH; I'd like to see a little more of it here.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-15 08:31 am (UTC)Other annoyances: just what we need -- further time compression. The Graysons' murder was now only ten years ago?!? Raven reforming the Titans only five years ago?
Re: Okay, but I warned you.
Date: 2004-05-15 10:11 am (UTC)An image can be found here (http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=page2&issue=88442294294%2050), though.
Re: Okay, but I warned you.
Date: 2004-05-15 10:52 am (UTC)