DC Reboot: on not letting the door hit me on my way out.

[runespoor]

So I've taken to stalk a bit of Gail Simone's Twitter - I know, I know, how the mighty are fallen - and I've realized that there's one thing that would keep me from leaving DC, even if Steph and Cass aren't immediately* accounted for in Continuity 3.0.

*(I mean, there's bound to be a writer somewhere who's introduce them as cameos for the sake of nostalgia, right? And then they can slip back into canon! I know, I know, keep on dreaming.)

My exception is if DC writes existing characters as lgbtq. I'll stick around then. Gotta encourage diversity, and it'll be a very welcome change.

Comments

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

You know what would make me hate slightly less? If Steph became Robin again (hey there's a plot line that no one ever was satisfied with and there's a lot to explore) and Damian went to be partners with Dick.

And you know NOT have Babs as Batgirl. It's creepy okay.

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure that's in the bag of "never gonna happen" that if Didio and the others could have their ways, they'd erase our memories of Steph ever being Robin in this continuity.

Damian went to be partners with Dick
I hear that.

Babs as not Oracle is creepy. It's not just an issue of 'girl' or how young they're going to make to justify that title. It's that she's a better character (and role-model) as Oracle than she ever was as Batgirl.

Though if they go that road, I hope that at least we'll compensate the loss of Oracle!Babs, the one person in the Batfamily Bruce treated as something of an equal, by making Barbara Gordon a senator in time. A competent one. Then again, asking comicbooks to treat a character's choice as anything else than opportunities for the world to go Nice Job Breaking It Hero at them is probably too much.

Still not buying anything until I know that Cass and Steph exist or that some important character has come out of DC's closet, though.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I don't care what they think. I JUST WANT STEPH BACK AS ROBIN. IT'S LIKE THIS THING I HAVE DEEP IN MY HEART. I'd settle for like an AU graphic novel or something.

There are a lot of reasons why Barbra becoming Batgirl again is horrible. I just keep thinking - would they ever make Dick the boy wonder again? No, because he's outgrown that and become an adult. Babs should get to as well.

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

While I love that Steph has been Robin, I'm perfectly happy with how she grew as Batgirl. I can't help but feel that Robin!Steph would be devolving. Though I certainly wouldn't say no to an AU showing how things went right in the first place!

Barbara has outgrown Batgirl then thousand times more than Dick ever outgrew Robin. But to be honest, I think that the main reason they're never going to make Dick Robin again is not because Dick grew up (after all Didio was willing to kill him as Nightwing, on the grounds that he wasn't Batman or Robin and thus was unimportant), but just because there were other Robins after Dick. Male Robins. Who are obviously much more important characters than female Batgirls or Robins - those they can basically erase, and no-one's the wiser!

If DC wanted me to be paying, happy customer, they'd just write a series about Steph and Cass being a team and girlfriends. Call 'em Spoiler and Black Bat if they had to.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I think it's not so much I want Steph to go back as much as I want them to do it right. RETCONNING YEAH! Or something. just redo it alllll.

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

THIIIIIIIIIIIS. Of course it's always going to end badly, 'cause yeah, Robin and growing up is hard. But the writer could at least treat her with some respect while she's Robin!

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I also want lots of borderline occ fic about Batman all all his robins. INCLUDING STEPH. :(

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

Want me to look around in my list o' links? But I'm pretty sure I don't have a lot (if any...) about Bruce and Steph. Unless it's AU and angsty, or Bruce/Steph. To be fair, these last are drabbles. Mostly. I ship Batman/Robin as a matter of principle in almost all of its iterations, don't judge me.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

Oh I ship Batman/Robins myself. But mostly I want AU fics where all the Robins are living with Bruce and Alfred. Super hero or not. PLAYBOY MILLIONAIRE COLLECTS ORPHANEDISH KIDS. NEWS AT ELEVEN.

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

It's actually every inch as ridiculously hard to find fic that fit your criteria in the stuff I was thinking about, mostly because my taste run to the angsty or do not feature Bruce in a major capacity. I do have some lovely fics about awwbatfamily, but they tend to happen in the middle of canon so they're really more h/c for me, with canon being the h. There's also no Damian, these fics having been written pre-him.

Mary's Gold (http://sharpest-rose.livejournal.com/484536.html) sounds like the thing I've read that's most like what you'd like to read. (I don't like the fic that much, but hey: four Robins, Bruce.)

Betty's written two things that probably don't really make the cut as they don't include Bruce. BUT THEY'RE SO HAPPY. The first one (http://brown-betty.livejournal.com/59869.html#cutid1) is about Tim and Steph being Robin, and the second (http://brown-betty.livejournal.com/38933.html#cutid1) takes place in more or less the same continuity as Gold above, and I love that one.

Two-Wheeled Birds (http://rubynye.livejournal.com/158669.html) is four shorts drabbles about the Robins and their bikes. It is glorious.

The Happyverse (http://mildredmilton.livejournal.com/tag/happyverse), which is mostly porn where all the Robins are alive. Jason is Red Hood, but aside from that, it's, well the happyverse. I won't even attempt to list all the ships.

And also two totally gratuitous Bruce/Steph (Batman/Robin) drabbles by Petra:
Expectations Upon Employment (http://petronelle.livejournal.com/101718.html#cutid1)
And yet again (http://petronelle.livejournal.com/260821.html#cutid1)

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

Haha I don't think most people in this fandom want to write my borderline ooc silly dreams of happy batfamilies.

Thanks for the recs!

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I HAAAAAATE Barbara Gordon becoming Batgirl again. I liked having this strong and brave and fantastic woman being a hero AND being disabled. She didn't cope easily; she had to struggle against inconvenience and pain. But she damned well succeeded, and succeeded admirably. And she became the baddest badass EVER. It made me feel like DC really grasped the idea that a hero doesn't have to have a perfect body, and that heroism comes from within.

Now, suddenly, she's back in the suit. And running. And jumping. Her disability erased--either for short periods in the suit or permanently, I don't know.

It makes me feel like DC just slapped me in the face--as if Didio and his ilk had said, "We'd rather not acknowledge that handicapped people exist...or that they identify with Barbara."

It makes me feel invisible.

I tweeted some of this to Gail Simone. I bet I wasn't the only one saying it, either.

[runespoor7.livejournal.com]

Yes. Though I think this is giving Didio and the others too much credit. I don't think they're able of this level of understanding the consequences and implications of their decision, and I'm not saying that to be glib; I really don't think they get that decisions of fiction reflect on reality.

She didn't cope easily; she had to struggle against inconvenience and pain. But she damned well succeeded, and succeeded admirably. And she became the baddest badass EVER.
One of the best summaries of Barbara I've read in a long time, I feel.