(no subject)
It's been awhile! Never quite got around to reinventing this journal, and I want a place to share my current Superboy/Young Justice/New 52 thoughts and this seemed like a place, so.
My Victorian Nano reminded me that I'd done the faux-Victorian thing before in my two ginormous Young Justice AUs so in a bid to do anything but work on Nano I ended up re-reading the entire thing. Which set off a chain reaction of actually starting the third story in that series, as well as no small amount of nostalgia. While looking for Young Justice things on the internets I discovered there is a CN show called Young Justice, set in the DC Universe and featuring Superboy and Secret in Season 1 and 2, and Bart, Tim and Cassie in Season 2. I was sceptical but found a couple of clips on youtube, was enamoured and bought the first 12 episodes on DVD.
I'm slightly less enamoured now that the shiny has worn off, but it's still got cute moments! I like the vibe that the first 6 members of the team have together, and I really enjoy the stand-alone episodes of the show, though I won't lie, my favourites are the first two in which Superboy is introduced to the show. I like the emphasis on friendship, teamwork and seeing the kids make mistakes. All the kids are really cool too -- of course, Superboy is my favourite but Robin is snarky, superior fun (even if his laugh is beyond creepy), Wally is simply hilarious, Artemis is just plain cool and Kald'r is my surprise favourite -- he is level-headed, mature and calm but without that annoying better-than-you vibe. Plus, his voice is just great. M'gann I am growing less fond of, but I think knowing what is coming is influencing me. She has awesome comic potential, but just ends up being annoying a lot of the time.
Overall, I think I like the potential the most. The characters are just so fun that I want to do things with them. Problem is, I don't know what yet. I do like AUs and since I am not as far through the series as other fans are, that does seem like a good idea, but I don't have any ideas for anything -- and maybe that's because it is hard to find the writing for this fandom? There are some hilariously cute or just plain funny artwork on tumblr, but the fic there is hasn't grabbed me yet. There is also a lot of preoccupation about shipping - ship names, which ship you support, characters you hate/don't hate based on your shipping preferences and that just doesn't interest me. There is a lot of potential for fun times with almost all the characters, that bickering over which is more canon or you like better just kind of ... seems like a waste of time.
And then there's Superboy. I think the main thing that sold me on this show was not that they included Kon, replete with Luthor and Superman issues, but Dubbilex. He and Guardian were major parts of comic-Kon's early life and they were lost when DC decided to make Kon grow up or whatever that mess was. That they both show up in the first two episodes is awesome. More than that, Dubbilex is creepy-cool. I -- am pretty sure that when I write Young Justice fic, it will heavily draw on CADMUS as it appears in the show.
I also like how it set up Kon's issues with being a clone and a weapon right from the start, as well as his want for recognition from Superman. Clearly they're going from later-comic's Kon, so his powers are different -- no flying, and no TTK -- but it does make me really miss 90's Kon's personality and snark and ridiculousness so much more! His development is slow, and his personality is pretty much 1. Angry. 2. Superman. 3. Miss Martian. 4. Angry. 5. Adopting pets. 6. Hating monkeys. I -- want more.
New 52.
Again, mixed feelings. My first reaction to hearing about this last year was all, 'oh, DC's found a new way to shoot themselves in the foot? Big surprise there.' Mostly, that hasn't changed. But this is a mildly entertaining way for them to shoot themselves in the foot at least, so yay. The only titles I'm following are Superboy (ha) and Teen Titans, and honestly, I'm finding it really hard to follow either title. There's just two much thrown at us, and everyone's always angry and slinging around accusations and no one knows what is actually going on, but they do know they can't be bothered to talk or figure stuff out when they could be trying to kill each other. They've cut out CADMUS completely, and while it looks like they've kept Luthor, Kon's back-story has been changed to include about ten times the wangst. I am heavily invested in this character, and I am still having a hard time caring about him. Created to be a weapon? Okay. Go with that. Let him explore what that means and find out where he belongs. Because then when it turns out that he has been masterminded into existence/no one knows who his human donor is/he contains a killing trigger/ he may have no empathy, then we might actually be able to care. Throwing all of that into the first 10 or so issues is overkill. Worse, it's confusing. It is hard to tell who is who, or even which character is saying what line, because no one is given enough space to develop personality. I think even the artist is confused in places.
On the other hand, I am still reading this because of a couple of very shallow reasons -- they kept the TTK -- and they made it major. I am actually kind of annoyed -- Kon's new origin mirrors what I was planning to do with the third part of Vampyre, but since I never got around to writing it before now, it's going to look influenced. Still, since the TTK is really rendered beautifully, I am not too bitter. I also like aspects of Kon's new look. There's also hints of personality, especially in the internal monologue. I admit, his new development is probably more realistic that 90s Kon's ever was, but damnit -- 90s Kon was so joyous in his belief in himself and the world and its ability to be awesome. I really miss that happiness. New 52s constant barrage of anger and suspicion and uncertainty is both draining and pretty boring! My favourite issue is #11 just for the fact that it is mostly free of those -- just Kon and new friend Miguel getting tattoos and discussing Kon's inability to relate to the world.
I also enjoy that Kon, Tim, Cassie and Bart have been reunited in Teen Titans, and Tim still seems reasonably Tim-ish. Bart is definitely latter-Teen Titans Bart, and the jury is still out on Cassie but it's weird -- Kon and Bart seem to have swapped aspects of their personalities. Miguel is great, but I worry that he is going to be used as cheap laugh fodder because of his sexuality (even in Superboy #11 there is this moment in a fight scene where there is this random dude making a call me sign at Miguel for seemingly no reason whatsoever except that it's funny) and Solstice is pretty fantastic. I want to like Skitter, but I wish they'd sort out her hair -- it sort of seems like the artist just got lazy there -- and I really liked Danny the Street. But again, I think it's the potential more than the actual material that I am enjoying here.
My Victorian Nano reminded me that I'd done the faux-Victorian thing before in my two ginormous Young Justice AUs so in a bid to do anything but work on Nano I ended up re-reading the entire thing. Which set off a chain reaction of actually starting the third story in that series, as well as no small amount of nostalgia. While looking for Young Justice things on the internets I discovered there is a CN show called Young Justice, set in the DC Universe and featuring Superboy and Secret in Season 1 and 2, and Bart, Tim and Cassie in Season 2. I was sceptical but found a couple of clips on youtube, was enamoured and bought the first 12 episodes on DVD.
I'm slightly less enamoured now that the shiny has worn off, but it's still got cute moments! I like the vibe that the first 6 members of the team have together, and I really enjoy the stand-alone episodes of the show, though I won't lie, my favourites are the first two in which Superboy is introduced to the show. I like the emphasis on friendship, teamwork and seeing the kids make mistakes. All the kids are really cool too -- of course, Superboy is my favourite but Robin is snarky, superior fun (even if his laugh is beyond creepy), Wally is simply hilarious, Artemis is just plain cool and Kald'r is my surprise favourite -- he is level-headed, mature and calm but without that annoying better-than-you vibe. Plus, his voice is just great. M'gann I am growing less fond of, but I think knowing what is coming is influencing me. She has awesome comic potential, but just ends up being annoying a lot of the time.
Overall, I think I like the potential the most. The characters are just so fun that I want to do things with them. Problem is, I don't know what yet. I do like AUs and since I am not as far through the series as other fans are, that does seem like a good idea, but I don't have any ideas for anything -- and maybe that's because it is hard to find the writing for this fandom? There are some hilariously cute or just plain funny artwork on tumblr, but the fic there is hasn't grabbed me yet. There is also a lot of preoccupation about shipping - ship names, which ship you support, characters you hate/don't hate based on your shipping preferences and that just doesn't interest me. There is a lot of potential for fun times with almost all the characters, that bickering over which is more canon or you like better just kind of ... seems like a waste of time.
And then there's Superboy. I think the main thing that sold me on this show was not that they included Kon, replete with Luthor and Superman issues, but Dubbilex. He and Guardian were major parts of comic-Kon's early life and they were lost when DC decided to make Kon grow up or whatever that mess was. That they both show up in the first two episodes is awesome. More than that, Dubbilex is creepy-cool. I -- am pretty sure that when I write Young Justice fic, it will heavily draw on CADMUS as it appears in the show.
I also like how it set up Kon's issues with being a clone and a weapon right from the start, as well as his want for recognition from Superman. Clearly they're going from later-comic's Kon, so his powers are different -- no flying, and no TTK -- but it does make me really miss 90's Kon's personality and snark and ridiculousness so much more! His development is slow, and his personality is pretty much 1. Angry. 2. Superman. 3. Miss Martian. 4. Angry. 5. Adopting pets. 6. Hating monkeys. I -- want more.
New 52.
Again, mixed feelings. My first reaction to hearing about this last year was all, 'oh, DC's found a new way to shoot themselves in the foot? Big surprise there.' Mostly, that hasn't changed. But this is a mildly entertaining way for them to shoot themselves in the foot at least, so yay. The only titles I'm following are Superboy (ha) and Teen Titans, and honestly, I'm finding it really hard to follow either title. There's just two much thrown at us, and everyone's always angry and slinging around accusations and no one knows what is actually going on, but they do know they can't be bothered to talk or figure stuff out when they could be trying to kill each other. They've cut out CADMUS completely, and while it looks like they've kept Luthor, Kon's back-story has been changed to include about ten times the wangst. I am heavily invested in this character, and I am still having a hard time caring about him. Created to be a weapon? Okay. Go with that. Let him explore what that means and find out where he belongs. Because then when it turns out that he has been masterminded into existence/no one knows who his human donor is/he contains a killing trigger/ he may have no empathy, then we might actually be able to care. Throwing all of that into the first 10 or so issues is overkill. Worse, it's confusing. It is hard to tell who is who, or even which character is saying what line, because no one is given enough space to develop personality. I think even the artist is confused in places.
On the other hand, I am still reading this because of a couple of very shallow reasons -- they kept the TTK -- and they made it major. I am actually kind of annoyed -- Kon's new origin mirrors what I was planning to do with the third part of Vampyre, but since I never got around to writing it before now, it's going to look influenced. Still, since the TTK is really rendered beautifully, I am not too bitter. I also like aspects of Kon's new look. There's also hints of personality, especially in the internal monologue. I admit, his new development is probably more realistic that 90s Kon's ever was, but damnit -- 90s Kon was so joyous in his belief in himself and the world and its ability to be awesome. I really miss that happiness. New 52s constant barrage of anger and suspicion and uncertainty is both draining and pretty boring! My favourite issue is #11 just for the fact that it is mostly free of those -- just Kon and new friend Miguel getting tattoos and discussing Kon's inability to relate to the world.
I also enjoy that Kon, Tim, Cassie and Bart have been reunited in Teen Titans, and Tim still seems reasonably Tim-ish. Bart is definitely latter-Teen Titans Bart, and the jury is still out on Cassie but it's weird -- Kon and Bart seem to have swapped aspects of their personalities. Miguel is great, but I worry that he is going to be used as cheap laugh fodder because of his sexuality (even in Superboy #11 there is this moment in a fight scene where there is this random dude making a call me sign at Miguel for seemingly no reason whatsoever except that it's funny) and Solstice is pretty fantastic. I want to like Skitter, but I wish they'd sort out her hair -- it sort of seems like the artist just got lazy there -- and I really liked Danny the Street. But again, I think it's the potential more than the actual material that I am enjoying here.