Friday, November 18, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Entering into comic books
For someone who isn't well versed in comic books, jumping into a story can be particularly daunting. There is already so much set continuity that it is easy to get overwhelmed and lost. With DC Comics recent reboot of their titles, it created an amazing spot for new readers to jump in. It allowed stories to rely less on the continuity of stories that have been expounded on for decades now and more on the characters from this new starting point. However, the same can not be said for Marvel and I know a lot of people want to know the stories further back than two months ago. Jumping in can be hard, but to be entirely honest your best bet is to do research. By no means am I telling you to go out and buy every comic book from a certain line and read them all, because that would be madness. If you've found a character or team you'd like to read then go check out a wikipedia page on them. No seriously. Every comic book character has a wikipedia page and even better a Comicvine page. These pages provide a relatively brief history of the character that tells you just about everything you need to know. I guarantee that anyone who is just getting into comic books will find that the internet is their best friend when it comes to understanding everything. There's absolutely no shame in it.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Batman had five Robins
Today is a history lesson for anyone who isn't as well versed in the Batman mythos as myself. Many people fail to realize there has been more than one Robin to ever work alongside Batman. Dick Grayson, the original Robin, is certainly the most widely known Robin, but there have been four others since Grayson stepped down. This is something that you need to know if you ever plan on having a conversation with me, because I am the girl who gets way too emotionally attached to all the Robins.
Dick Grayson was the first boy to take on the pixie boots. He came from a circus background but his parents were killed during a performance that Bruce Wayne was attending. Wayne took in the young boy and trained him to fight alongside Batman in their quest for justice. Grayson kept this title through his teenage years until he outgrew the being The Boy Wonder. At this point he quit and moved out of Gotham City to become Nightwing.
Enter Jason Todd (and this is where my emotional attachment might become painfully obvious). Jason grew up on the streets with less than reputable parents. One night while Batman was out on patrol he returned to the Batmobile to find the tires missing and a young boy with a tire iron in hand. Instead of getting angry he was amused and took the boy in and once again trained him for the now open spot of Robin. Todd was brash and violent but a strong fighter, however during a mission, Joker gained the upper hand and got Jason away from Batman. He then took the 15 year old boy, beat him half to death and left him alone in a warehouse to die from explosives. Through a series of events (Superboy Prime punching the space time continuum causing a massive "retcon" or retroactive continuity... confused yet?) Jason Todd was brought back to life. He holds a massive grudge against Batman for not killing the Joker after his murder and now works as the anti-hero Red Hood. He has abandoned Batman's no killing rule and is taking out Gotham's criminals his own way.
Then comes Timothy Drake. After Jason's death, Batman vowed to work alone. That was until Drake, being the amazing little detective that he is, uncovered that Batman is Bruce Wayne and showed him that Batman needs a Robin. Tim was the only Robin to have his own comic book series which ran from the early 90's to the early 2000's. At one point in time, Tim decides he needs to step down from the role of Robin to focus on his father who he has lied to for as long as he has been Robin. At this point his long term girlfriend Stephanie Brown takes over as Robin.
Steph was the daughter of Gotham criminal Cluemaster. To make up for her father's wrongdoings she took up the vigilante name Spoiler and fought crime with self taught skills. Batman never really accepted her (because DC hates Stephanie Brown. Really. They do.) and was reluctant to take her on as Robin when Tim stepped down. However he did but fired her shortly thereafter because she disobeyed his orders to save his life. (seriously Batman was a huge jerk to her all because DC hates her) So Tim becomes Robin again and then she is murdered after going back to being Spoiler. Well fans hated this because Steph is awesome and DC shouldn't have killed her JUST BECAUSE THEY HATE HER. So they retconned (there's that word again) what happened and she came back and eventually became Batgirl (a role that she ROCKED at!) until the reboot just happened that they put Barbara Gordon back as Batgirl and we have no idea where Steph stands (I'm not bitter. I'm SO not bitter. I swear.)
Now in recent continuity Bruce Wayne was believed dead (another long story about as confusing as the Superboy Prime punch). This lead to Dick Grayson taking on the cowl and become Batman, somewhat unwillingly. He had to choose a Robin but he felt that Tim was his equal and would not fight along side him as his superior so he chose Bruce Wayne's wayward son Damian Wayne to be his Robin. This led Tim to become Red Robin, the name that he still fights under. Bruce was not aware of Damian's existence until the child was 10. He was raised by the League Of Assassins which is run by his grandfather R'as Al Ghul and his mother Talia Al Ghul. He chose life with his father over that with his mother. He is a snarky little brat due to his upbringing but wants nothing more than to please his family in Gotham. He still fights alongside his father as Robin
I'm going to mention one other Robin just because I love her. Carrie Kelley was a part of a story that was not written to be a part of the over arching story of the Batman world. She took place in a future world were Batman came out of retirement to fight in a failing city. She recognized that the aging Batman needed a partner, made her own Robin costume, and waltzed right up to him and told him she was Robin. The rest is history.
If you made it through this entire post, congratulations. You now have my undying respect. Now excuse me while I go cry some more over dead and female Robins...
Dick Grayson was the first boy to take on the pixie boots. He came from a circus background but his parents were killed during a performance that Bruce Wayne was attending. Wayne took in the young boy and trained him to fight alongside Batman in their quest for justice. Grayson kept this title through his teenage years until he outgrew the being The Boy Wonder. At this point he quit and moved out of Gotham City to become Nightwing.
Enter Jason Todd (and this is where my emotional attachment might become painfully obvious). Jason grew up on the streets with less than reputable parents. One night while Batman was out on patrol he returned to the Batmobile to find the tires missing and a young boy with a tire iron in hand. Instead of getting angry he was amused and took the boy in and once again trained him for the now open spot of Robin. Todd was brash and violent but a strong fighter, however during a mission, Joker gained the upper hand and got Jason away from Batman. He then took the 15 year old boy, beat him half to death and left him alone in a warehouse to die from explosives. Through a series of events (Superboy Prime punching the space time continuum causing a massive "retcon" or retroactive continuity... confused yet?) Jason Todd was brought back to life. He holds a massive grudge against Batman for not killing the Joker after his murder and now works as the anti-hero Red Hood. He has abandoned Batman's no killing rule and is taking out Gotham's criminals his own way.
Then comes Timothy Drake. After Jason's death, Batman vowed to work alone. That was until Drake, being the amazing little detective that he is, uncovered that Batman is Bruce Wayne and showed him that Batman needs a Robin. Tim was the only Robin to have his own comic book series which ran from the early 90's to the early 2000's. At one point in time, Tim decides he needs to step down from the role of Robin to focus on his father who he has lied to for as long as he has been Robin. At this point his long term girlfriend Stephanie Brown takes over as Robin.
Steph was the daughter of Gotham criminal Cluemaster. To make up for her father's wrongdoings she took up the vigilante name Spoiler and fought crime with self taught skills. Batman never really accepted her (because DC hates Stephanie Brown. Really. They do.) and was reluctant to take her on as Robin when Tim stepped down. However he did but fired her shortly thereafter because she disobeyed his orders to save his life. (seriously Batman was a huge jerk to her all because DC hates her) So Tim becomes Robin again and then she is murdered after going back to being Spoiler. Well fans hated this because Steph is awesome and DC shouldn't have killed her JUST BECAUSE THEY HATE HER. So they retconned (there's that word again) what happened and she came back and eventually became Batgirl (a role that she ROCKED at!) until the reboot just happened that they put Barbara Gordon back as Batgirl and we have no idea where Steph stands (I'm not bitter. I'm SO not bitter. I swear.)
Now in recent continuity Bruce Wayne was believed dead (another long story about as confusing as the Superboy Prime punch). This lead to Dick Grayson taking on the cowl and become Batman, somewhat unwillingly. He had to choose a Robin but he felt that Tim was his equal and would not fight along side him as his superior so he chose Bruce Wayne's wayward son Damian Wayne to be his Robin. This led Tim to become Red Robin, the name that he still fights under. Bruce was not aware of Damian's existence until the child was 10. He was raised by the League Of Assassins which is run by his grandfather R'as Al Ghul and his mother Talia Al Ghul. He chose life with his father over that with his mother. He is a snarky little brat due to his upbringing but wants nothing more than to please his family in Gotham. He still fights alongside his father as Robin
I'm going to mention one other Robin just because I love her. Carrie Kelley was a part of a story that was not written to be a part of the over arching story of the Batman world. She took place in a future world were Batman came out of retirement to fight in a failing city. She recognized that the aging Batman needed a partner, made her own Robin costume, and waltzed right up to him and told him she was Robin. The rest is history.
If you made it through this entire post, congratulations. You now have my undying respect. Now excuse me while I go cry some more over dead and female Robins...
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