A Love Letter To My First Fandom - The Batverse

[clawofcat]

I've been feeling rather nostalgic lately for my first true fandom. I'm not sure why, but that old longing of yore has crept up on me. You see, before there was Buffy/Spike there was Batman/Catwoman and Nightwing/Oracle. Here's a brief history on how I got into them  - TV and comics brought me to fanfic - the first fic stories that made an

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[rebcake]

It's been awhile, but I know that a pretty big part of my thesis was that Lois' seemingly insane romantic pursuit of Superman was in fact a canny way to retain her independence. By setting her sights so publicly on an unattainable male, she didn't have to make herself available to someone who might have made an "honest" woman of her. In the 40s & 50s, it was no easy thing to be an independent, but not openly rebellious, woman. That was the first part, but the other parts I'd have to think on for a bit.

Definitely check out Love & Rockets if you get the chance. I'd start with the earlier stuff, if possible. Some of brother Gilbert's more recent work can be sort of nihilistic and brutal, which wasn't the case originally. The thing that stands out about Los Bros. Hernandez' work is the variety and realism of the female characters, which most of them are. This was incredibly rare in comics in the 80s, and is only marginally less so today in any type of media, alas. They always got the same questions Joss gets today, "Why do you write such strong female characters?" Which, duh, why wouldn't you? Have fun!