(no subject)
*jumps on the Devin Grayson bandwagon*
So I've been thinking about this post for a couple days, and the recent Devin links on WFA got me to decide to make it.
Caveat: I have not read Inheritance, to my great sorrow and despair, and thus will not be discussing it. I have read Devin's run on both NIGHTWING and GOTHAM KNIGHTS.
"5. Apparently, Devin Grayson got burned at the DC panel at WWChicago this weekend. AWESOME. Yeah, sweetie? You got hired as a writer to write, NOT live out your wacky, wacky fantasies. Ya should have stuck with fanfic and become a wholesale grocery seller or something. For reals."
GRRRRRRRR. I get snarly at people who dismiss Devin as a fangirl hack. Grrr. This is me snarly.
Let me start by saying that my love for Devin's run on Gotham Knights is pure and intense. I loved what the book was under her and deeply regretted that she left. "[W]riter Devin Grayson has attributed her fascination with Batman directly to his extended family," and it showed in that title. Gotham Knights was the go-to book for Batfamily dynamics, and since I -- like Devin -- am deeply intrigued by the complicated ways the Batclan related to each other, I scoured any comic store I could get my hands on for a Devin-penned issue of Gotham Knights.
I loved characters like Matatoa, who appeared in Gotham Knights 16-17. In exchange for Batman's death, Matatoa offered Batman eternal protection for Gotham: Matatoa, who was immortal, would himself be Gotham's defender. I was in a state of bliss when Batman informed Nightwing that he hadn't been tempted by Matatoa because he already had an heir: Nightwing himself, and then Bruce Wayne made Richard Grayson his legal son, as well as his ward. And I exploded in messy glee, because oh BATS. As though they aren't complicated ENOUGH.
(Also, now I want to write a story where Bruce does EVEN MORE thoughts about Jason vs. Dick, his first legal son vs. his first Robin, and what changed between all three of them when Jason was adopted and what will change when Dick is. Argh. Self, you are far too easy.)
(NB: I don't think Dick would be a good Batman, and I think Bruce knows that in terms of who would be the most suitable heir, Tim would be more willing to shatter his mind and soul for the Mission. After all, Dick never got a ROBIN 116-120.)
I flat-out *adored* the Transference arc, Gotham Knights 9-11, which… man. Sheer burning love for that arc over here. I loved that arc so much that I really am incapable of speaking about it coherently, but... first, it makes so much sense that there are crazy people like Dora who believe that they're capes. We have crazy people who think they're Napolean, they have crazy people who think they're Catwoman. Second, I loved Dick's reaction to everything going on so much that I am unable to discuss it intelligently because I descend into a ball of squee and flaily gesticulations -- still protecting the secrets! So *utterly* confident in Bruce! Oh, DICK. Yes. That. That's it exactly, Devin, I love you.
One of my other favorite issues in Gotham Knights is the one with Dick's 'grandfather'. I disagreed with a couple of her decisions, like Dick not understanding Romany, but I desperately adored the final reveal of what on earth was going on and I loved what Yoska Graesinka thought he knew about Dick and Bruce.
I thought she wrote Tim a little too 'young' for the scary freaky stalkerboy he is, but she showed the Batfamily as really being a family -- in all their crazy, psychotic, loving glory -- and that's something I've missed in recent canon.
Like, for example, Bruce Jones' run on Nightwing where I'm supposed to believe that Jason's picture could be splashed all over New York and Bruce wouldn't be up there in five seconds flat. Uh-huh. Riiiight. *eyes Under the Hood and grins* Bull, Bruce Jones. Bull.
"I think Dick Grayson has struggled with problems that are resonant to a lot of people: loss, grief, difficult and unyielding parent figures, the need to carve out an individual place for one's self in the world," Grayson explains. "I could go on for hours - about Dick's complexities and the contradictions in his nature that make him so completely believable; about his amazing physical prowess and natural athleticism and how much he loves movement and fluidity and physical contact; about his intelligence and his compassion and his fierce romantic streak; about his fascinating vocational and ethnic background, and how different those things were from what he eventually grew up with in Wayne Manor; about his energy and resourcefulness and ability to be totally, stunningly present in any given moment ."
*points up* That. Yes. That. That's my boy. She Gets Him. A huge part of Dick's characterization is his movement, his -- look, she said it better. She knows Dick. And yes, she loves him, but you know what? So do I.
Various readers of Nightwing have called her run on that title nothing but "wacky fantasies" or calling Tarantula a Mary Sue. To this I say, Dudes, did we read the same comic?
When I was but a lass, I wrote Mary Sues. Now, these stories will never ever see the Internet, because they were saved on an external hard drive that was removed from my computer. But I wrote them. Everyone does. Nasty things happened to my Sues; nasty things tend to happen to the characters I focus on.
One thing that I never did was *accuse my own Sues of rape*. Did you people somehow *miss* that Devin really didn't think the Tarantula/Nightwing sex was a good idea? Did you not catch that she thought it wasn't healthy and did in fact initially refer to it as rape? Tarantula in that scene is NOT a self-insert, and the author pretty clearly disapproves of her actions.
NB: I liked that scene, personally. It rang true to my idea of Dick's characterization that he would be freaked out and guilty, it rang true that Tarantula Wouldn't Get That, and it rang true that Dick would have sex with someone even when he really really shouldn't. He's like that.
Devin is a Nightwing fangirl. This pretty much everyone accepts. That doesn't mean that every word she writes about the man is some fangirl schtick; Devin, unlike Bruce Jones, never wrote Dick as an *underwear model* or had a current lover describe his bruises as "very hot". Devin had some class. And some style. I liked her ideas better, I liked her dialogue better, and I spit upon the OYL run of Nightwing.
This isn't to say, of course, that I don't think she ever made a mistake. I rolled my eyes at Dick during some of her last issues on Nightwing, and I twitched kind of a lot at Slade's interaction with Rose -- kitten? Bzuh? Dude, NO. Lots of no. (Of course, I twitched a lot more with Infinite Crisis 4, and Slade in the Crises anyway made me make odd faces and grab for twenty-year-old comics to check old characterization. The differences between these two Slades are a post for another time.)
But I draw shiny sparkly hearts over Nightwing 80-82. That's my Slade, snarky and brutal and still with a sense of honor; he genuinely does have a soft spot for Dick, and I think he would show up and warn the kid that Slade had a contract in his city.
A lot of the issues that I did have with Devin's run on Nightwing really can be traced back to editoral decisions; Slade would suddenly be Mr. City-Destroying Supervillain Badass as opposed to Mr. Honorable-In-A-Weird-Way Mercenary Badass, her initial plans for ending the Renegade arc got scrapped, etc. If I'm being fair, a lot of Bruce Jones' problems may well stem from having to shoehorn Dick into his own title because DiDio changed his original plans on very little notice. But Devin, quite frankly, simply writes the Bats better. It's immensely easier for me to believe her emo emo emo Dick Grayson; the Bats are emo. Dick has always had daddy issues and loyalty issues and teammate issues and killing issues and general *issues*. She didn't write him as being healthy. She wrote him as himself.
Accusations that she emasculated or "pussified" him will be greeted with a blankly disbelieving stare. She gave his actions consequences and dwelt on repercussions of stuff he did. Like, you know, tends to happen. Dick was still a powerful fighter and a strong man, who was *totally drowning in his issues*. I will freely admit this. Most likely, so will she.
That is not the same thing as metaphorical castration. Nor, for that matter, is saying men can be raped. And you have no idea how many of *your* issues I think you're showing by implying that it is.
I'm not actually sure how to end this post. Hrn. Okay: I don't think Devin is a fangirl hack. I think people who do think so have a fundamentally different idea of Dick's characterization, and I disagree with them. I like what Devin did with the titles she wrote; I liked the characters and ideas she created, like Sam the little ghost-boy, the Graysons *and* the Waynes haunting Bruce; and I regret her absence. That'll do.
In summation, I am a Devin Fan, and I will say this fact proudly. Cross-posted to comics_meta (Dingsi? Check me on this? Is it applicable there?) and theclubhouse.
So I've been thinking about this post for a couple days, and the recent Devin links on WFA got me to decide to make it.
Caveat: I have not read Inheritance, to my great sorrow and despair, and thus will not be discussing it. I have read Devin's run on both NIGHTWING and GOTHAM KNIGHTS.
"5. Apparently, Devin Grayson got burned at the DC panel at WWChicago this weekend. AWESOME. Yeah, sweetie? You got hired as a writer to write, NOT live out your wacky, wacky fantasies. Ya should have stuck with fanfic and become a wholesale grocery seller or something. For reals."
GRRRRRRRR. I get snarly at people who dismiss Devin as a fangirl hack. Grrr. This is me snarly.
Let me start by saying that my love for Devin's run on Gotham Knights is pure and intense. I loved what the book was under her and deeply regretted that she left. "[W]riter Devin Grayson has attributed her fascination with Batman directly to his extended family," and it showed in that title. Gotham Knights was the go-to book for Batfamily dynamics, and since I -- like Devin -- am deeply intrigued by the complicated ways the Batclan related to each other, I scoured any comic store I could get my hands on for a Devin-penned issue of Gotham Knights.
I loved characters like Matatoa, who appeared in Gotham Knights 16-17. In exchange for Batman's death, Matatoa offered Batman eternal protection for Gotham: Matatoa, who was immortal, would himself be Gotham's defender. I was in a state of bliss when Batman informed Nightwing that he hadn't been tempted by Matatoa because he already had an heir: Nightwing himself, and then Bruce Wayne made Richard Grayson his legal son, as well as his ward. And I exploded in messy glee, because oh BATS. As though they aren't complicated ENOUGH.
(Also, now I want to write a story where Bruce does EVEN MORE thoughts about Jason vs. Dick, his first legal son vs. his first Robin, and what changed between all three of them when Jason was adopted and what will change when Dick is. Argh. Self, you are far too easy.)
(NB: I don't think Dick would be a good Batman, and I think Bruce knows that in terms of who would be the most suitable heir, Tim would be more willing to shatter his mind and soul for the Mission. After all, Dick never got a ROBIN 116-120.)
I flat-out *adored* the Transference arc, Gotham Knights 9-11, which… man. Sheer burning love for that arc over here. I loved that arc so much that I really am incapable of speaking about it coherently, but... first, it makes so much sense that there are crazy people like Dora who believe that they're capes. We have crazy people who think they're Napolean, they have crazy people who think they're Catwoman. Second, I loved Dick's reaction to everything going on so much that I am unable to discuss it intelligently because I descend into a ball of squee and flaily gesticulations -- still protecting the secrets! So *utterly* confident in Bruce! Oh, DICK. Yes. That. That's it exactly, Devin, I love you.
One of my other favorite issues in Gotham Knights is the one with Dick's 'grandfather'. I disagreed with a couple of her decisions, like Dick not understanding Romany, but I desperately adored the final reveal of what on earth was going on and I loved what Yoska Graesinka thought he knew about Dick and Bruce.
I thought she wrote Tim a little too 'young' for the scary freaky stalkerboy he is, but she showed the Batfamily as really being a family -- in all their crazy, psychotic, loving glory -- and that's something I've missed in recent canon.
Like, for example, Bruce Jones' run on Nightwing where I'm supposed to believe that Jason's picture could be splashed all over New York and Bruce wouldn't be up there in five seconds flat. Uh-huh. Riiiight. *eyes Under the Hood and grins* Bull, Bruce Jones. Bull.
"I think Dick Grayson has struggled with problems that are resonant to a lot of people: loss, grief, difficult and unyielding parent figures, the need to carve out an individual place for one's self in the world," Grayson explains. "I could go on for hours - about Dick's complexities and the contradictions in his nature that make him so completely believable; about his amazing physical prowess and natural athleticism and how much he loves movement and fluidity and physical contact; about his intelligence and his compassion and his fierce romantic streak; about his fascinating vocational and ethnic background, and how different those things were from what he eventually grew up with in Wayne Manor; about his energy and resourcefulness and ability to be totally, stunningly present in any given moment ."
*points up* That. Yes. That. That's my boy. She Gets Him. A huge part of Dick's characterization is his movement, his -- look, she said it better. She knows Dick. And yes, she loves him, but you know what? So do I.
Various readers of Nightwing have called her run on that title nothing but "wacky fantasies" or calling Tarantula a Mary Sue. To this I say, Dudes, did we read the same comic?
When I was but a lass, I wrote Mary Sues. Now, these stories will never ever see the Internet, because they were saved on an external hard drive that was removed from my computer. But I wrote them. Everyone does. Nasty things happened to my Sues; nasty things tend to happen to the characters I focus on.
One thing that I never did was *accuse my own Sues of rape*. Did you people somehow *miss* that Devin really didn't think the Tarantula/Nightwing sex was a good idea? Did you not catch that she thought it wasn't healthy and did in fact initially refer to it as rape? Tarantula in that scene is NOT a self-insert, and the author pretty clearly disapproves of her actions.
NB: I liked that scene, personally. It rang true to my idea of Dick's characterization that he would be freaked out and guilty, it rang true that Tarantula Wouldn't Get That, and it rang true that Dick would have sex with someone even when he really really shouldn't. He's like that.
Devin is a Nightwing fangirl. This pretty much everyone accepts. That doesn't mean that every word she writes about the man is some fangirl schtick; Devin, unlike Bruce Jones, never wrote Dick as an *underwear model* or had a current lover describe his bruises as "very hot". Devin had some class. And some style. I liked her ideas better, I liked her dialogue better, and I spit upon the OYL run of Nightwing.
This isn't to say, of course, that I don't think she ever made a mistake. I rolled my eyes at Dick during some of her last issues on Nightwing, and I twitched kind of a lot at Slade's interaction with Rose -- kitten? Bzuh? Dude, NO. Lots of no. (Of course, I twitched a lot more with Infinite Crisis 4, and Slade in the Crises anyway made me make odd faces and grab for twenty-year-old comics to check old characterization. The differences between these two Slades are a post for another time.)
But I draw shiny sparkly hearts over Nightwing 80-82. That's my Slade, snarky and brutal and still with a sense of honor; he genuinely does have a soft spot for Dick, and I think he would show up and warn the kid that Slade had a contract in his city.
A lot of the issues that I did have with Devin's run on Nightwing really can be traced back to editoral decisions; Slade would suddenly be Mr. City-Destroying Supervillain Badass as opposed to Mr. Honorable-In-A-Weird-Way Mercenary Badass, her initial plans for ending the Renegade arc got scrapped, etc. If I'm being fair, a lot of Bruce Jones' problems may well stem from having to shoehorn Dick into his own title because DiDio changed his original plans on very little notice. But Devin, quite frankly, simply writes the Bats better. It's immensely easier for me to believe her emo emo emo Dick Grayson; the Bats are emo. Dick has always had daddy issues and loyalty issues and teammate issues and killing issues and general *issues*. She didn't write him as being healthy. She wrote him as himself.
Accusations that she emasculated or "pussified" him will be greeted with a blankly disbelieving stare. She gave his actions consequences and dwelt on repercussions of stuff he did. Like, you know, tends to happen. Dick was still a powerful fighter and a strong man, who was *totally drowning in his issues*. I will freely admit this. Most likely, so will she.
That is not the same thing as metaphorical castration. Nor, for that matter, is saying men can be raped. And you have no idea how many of *your* issues I think you're showing by implying that it is.
I'm not actually sure how to end this post. Hrn. Okay: I don't think Devin is a fangirl hack. I think people who do think so have a fundamentally different idea of Dick's characterization, and I disagree with them. I like what Devin did with the titles she wrote; I liked the characters and ideas she created, like Sam the little ghost-boy, the Graysons *and* the Waynes haunting Bruce; and I regret her absence. That'll do.
In summation, I am a Devin Fan, and I will say this fact proudly. Cross-posted to comics_meta (Dingsi? Check me on this? Is it applicable there?) and theclubhouse.