My thoughts on the Batwoman TV Show

I had been for over a year wanting to write a blog post on how one of the things you only see in Anime are same gender Fraternal Twins.  Generally writers are only interested in the plot device of Identical Twins and the mystical symbolic value of Male-Female twins.  Only in Otaku media is it actually common to see Fraternal Twin Sisters like the Hiragi sisters or the Fujibayashi sisters or the Shikoueska sisters.

Then in December of 2019 I decided to finally check out the CW's Batwoman and low and behold the main protagonist and antagonist are Fraternal twin sisters.  And I discovered this had been a thing in the Comics since before Flashpoint even, so that thesis always had this fatal flaw.

I like Batwoman over all, so it's unfair that the rest this post is gonna focus on some negatives, I do recommend checking it out.

I'm enjoying watching Alice because of the Actress, but she's kind of a text book example of what I think has been wrong with attempts to create new Batman villains in the last 25 years or so.  Lots of villains who arguably worked as the Big Bad of the status quo shaking event that introduced them, but attempts to make them part of the regularly recurring cast of Bat Rouges do not work.  Of course comics kind of don't tell simple villain of the week stories at all anymore which is sad on it's own.

Frequently people feel the most important thing for any Batman villain is that they be crazy.  But besides maybe sometimes The Joker, the iconic Arkham inmates are people who have a method to their madness that puts clear parameters on how they should be utilized, the challenge for any new Batman writer should be how to make them fresh without breaking those rules, but too often writers want to just break the rules instead because now anything is praised if it "subverts expectations".

Alice is just crazy, randomly spouting Alice in Wonderland quotes as if she doesn't know there's already a Gotham Supervillian with that routine, but mostly it feels like this show just wants her to be The Joker to to Kate's Batman.

Because that's the thing, the show too often doesn't feel like a Batman spin off, it feels like Batman as a Woman rather then Batwoman.

When you pick up a Comic where the title character is another Bat-Family superhero, it's usually not a Comic about a point in the story-line where Batman is retired or gone for some reason.  Batman is still in Gotham just dealing with something other then what this protagonist is dealing with.  But for some reason on a TV show studios think the audience can't handle that. The early 2000s Birds of Prey show had the same problem, but interestingly the new Birds of Prey movie does not, there is no attempt to even hand-wave why Batman isn't here, they trust the audience to just assume he's doing something else, and I appreciated that.

The show is also based on the most recent version of the Batwoman mythos, even more recent then the New52.  Frankly I hate the idea of giving Bruce Wayne cousins.

So those are really just complaints about bad Batman writing in general the show makes me think of.  I'm hoping the show eventually gives us a Flamebird of some type.

I want to make a post about the Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths adaptations which I also really liked, but am having trouble thinking of exactly what to say.

Batman Bad Blood animated movie

I watched the Batman Bad Blood direct to DVD animated movie this last week.

Of this Damien Wayne series I liked this one the best by far.  It still bums me out that this depiction of the Bat Family is ignoring Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain and Tim Drake.  But in this I'm glad we're finally getting a Bat Family that is more then just Batman and Robins.

I have not followed the era of the comics being depicted here.  I get a general vibe that this one is following the comics less closely then the previous two, and I guess it says something about the post Infinite Crisis comics that that seems to have been for the better.

What I liked most is Kate Kane.  I can't really judge how faithful this was to the comics, but I do know of her enough to expect certain things.  And I can say that this was a good introduction for the character to non comic readers.

She is a Lesbian in this as she should be, and they handled it well, they treated her love life like they would if she was straight.  Montoya was pretty good in her brief appearance.

I am starting to notice that this is the most in-depth Batman canon to not yet feature The Joker.  Is the planned Killing Joke movie going to be in the same continuity?

You can make a shared Universe of just Batman

I'm serious, so many Batman supporting characters, including ones with currently no Mainstream recognizably, have carried their own spin off titles. There have been times when between a 4th to a 3rd of all monthly DC comics being published in the main continuity are set in Gotham city (or nearby Bludhaven). More Comics then marvel usually has about the core Avengers team members (X-Men is in fact Marvel's biggest franchise, which Fox is demonstrating by making a Shared Universe of just them). 

Start with a Batman solo movie where he works on his own, even though the others already exist, not unlike the first two Arkham Games.   Though Oracle can contribute and maybe at least a brief appearance from Robin.

Then do movies for Nightwing, Tim Drake Robin, Cassandra Cain Batgirl (Spoiler would have a supporting role in both) then movies for Birds of Prey, Catwoman and Batwoman. Then the team up movie can be called something like Batman: Gotham Knights. Maybe have two Solo Batman movies for each phase so we don't forget he's the star. 

That's how much bigger DC's universe is, Marvel could only do that with X-Men. DC's biggest is Batman, but at times Superman can be similar when you have Supergirl and Superboy, and some of the local Metropolis non powered Heroes like Steel, Guardian and Gangbuster, also Rose and Thorn. 

And DC could theoretically do it with Green Lantern too, have a Trilogy about Earth's Sector's current GL, and then one or two about the Corps out in Deep space (Don't forget there is a Squirrel GL who can rival GOTG's Racoon). then throw in The Corps unaffiliated GLs like Alan Scott, his daughter Jade and Guy Gardner back when he had a Yellow Ring. 

Recently I heard well over half of all DC's comics where those 3 franchises together. I just wish WW and Flash could grow that much, people love Diana's teen Sidekicks too, but they never get their own Serieses, just supporting roles in WW and Teen Titans. 

WB isn't gonna do that anytime soon, but when the current Cinematic Universe proves profitable, I think they may consider it 10 or so years down the road when it's time to Reboot again. 

But back specifically to the Batman shared Universe idea, I think that'd ideally be done with a TV Show format actually. For the basic Fall-Spring Season have several shows running (the titles I listed above, plus a Gotham Central Police Procedural), literally more or less make a brand new Network just for Batman shows. Then during each Summer between the seasons have a special miniseries for the Big Crossover events. 

But Warner will never do that, because the Big Screen always gets first dibs. 

Frustration with DC's handling of Characters since 2006

I'm somewhat doing this inspired by this article.
http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com/new-costume-same-drama-deeper-shovel/
But I'll be more about DC in general here not just Superman, so plenty I'll say has little direct connection to anything Bailey said.

I too have been displeased by most everything since Infinite Crisis, but the details are different.  Like Bailey I became a DC fan during the Crisis to Crisis era (the name of the Podcast he co-hosts) however to a large extent I started much later in it.  But the first comics I read were old when I obtained them.  World Without a Superman was the first Story-line I read, via the trade paperback.

The new Costumes for DC's big Three which are superficially the starting point here don't bother me much because I know they're temporary, a brief publicity stunt to tie in with Convergence.  But there is no way once they start the Cinematic Universe in 2016 that they'll have those characters in the Comics in costumes unrecognizable as what potential new fans are seeing on the Big Screen.

I'm ok with the idea of less emphasis on the Shared Universe in the comics.  I'm excited to finally see one on the Big Screen, but I hate how comics over do it sometimes.  I'm also pissed that Batwoman's marriage was canceled because of some anti heroes getting married policy at DC.  But well before that it just seemed random to me that Batwoman's OTP wound up becoming a Superman supporting character, I like Maggie Sawyer being in Metropolis, interacting with Turpin and Superman and sometimes the Daily Planet cast of characters.

I'm hoping that an emphasis on "Canon rather then Continuity" means they try to be consistent without worrying about constantly writing themselves into corners.

I'm also tried of them over doing big crossover events, I loved Infinite Crisis, and it's build up going back to 2003.  But it should have ended for awhile after Infinite Crisis.

I was not bothered by the notion of Superman being gone from Action Comics, Action Comics can't go back to being a true Anthology since comics have less pages now, but I kinda dislike it being a Superman solo title effectively when Superman does have several titles for his own world, same with Batman and Detective Comics.  But Superman being gone from his own Title for a year was indeed stupid.

I hate New 52 on several levels.  It's handling of Superman I have no direct knowledge of, from what I've heard......  I like that according to some sources they've tried to go back to Superman's rebellious personality from the Seigel and Shuster stories.  Even in the Crisis to Crisis era with the CEO Lex, it still did not result in superman returning to his anti-Establishment roots.  Characters like Luthor and Westfeild and Vinnie Edge represented Corruption within the system, but never the System itself being corrupt.

Particularly in how the early Post-Crisis years defined Superman and Batman's relationship, it wasn't going in the direction of DKR but clearly using that perceived difference as the starting point.  To me Batman is a Lawful good character, being Lawful can apply to a personally imposed code as much as it can an external one.  So that he works outside the Law of Gotham city doesn't change that he's about Law and Order.  To me if Superman and Batman are gonna disagree it should be the other way, Batman is fare more likely to become a totalitarian, however I don't believe he canonically ever fully would, he's learned how things like War Games and Brother Eye backfired.  But if someone wants to make an elseworlds tale that inverts the concept of DKR's last act, I'd read it.

Back to New52.  What I do not like is that recent comics seem to rarely use Clark Kent, if we're going to do a rebellious Superman well, his time working as a reporter is a key part of that.  And Clark should be who he really is, and the Kents the reason he is who he is.

DC's problem of late hasn't simply been their courting of New Fans over pleasing old ones.  It's that they also have no idea how to court new fans.

I'm someone for whom the first Superman Comics I read were those following the Death of Superman, while he was still Dead.  There was all kinds of Continuity lock-out, but that didn't bother me, the things I didn't get only made me more curious, and fellow Christian Nerd Rob Skiba expressed the same feeling about becoming a DC fan when that was going on.

They are also not appealing to potential new Female readers in the way they insist on treating their female Characters, constantly forgetting about Stephanie and Cassandra Cain.  And continuing to define Barbara Gordon by The Killing Joke in-spite of the protests of the people writing her current comic.

And you can make female characters look Sexy without looking completely objectified.  I as a straight male don't even find that controversial Spiderwoman cover titillating.  Even most men who are "ass men" (which I'm generally not), aren't turned on by the crack, they like it looking round.

What every good take on Superman has in common, whether they make him rebellious like the early Golden Age stories did or not, is that he is a truly Selfless character, which is why his Antithesis Luthor is the embodiment of Selfishness and Narcissism (that is what all good takes on Luthor have in common,, the Robur knock off, the Mad Scientist, the amusing Hakcman-Spacey version, but especially the CEO who becomes President).  Superman has godlike powers but sees himself as Human, Luthor is all too Human but sees himself as a god.

So I agree entirely with Bailey that Superman should never see himself as apart from Humanity.  I mostly agree that people in general shouldn't fear him, but there should be some who do, and Lex should seek to make himself the voice of those, even though his real objection to Superman is different.

Barbara Kean becoming Batwoman theory

Is a theory I've expressed before.  Some people who I've told this to elsewhere, have said they find it bothersome because they think Barbara current self-destructive state is simply unfitting.  I'm thinking these Kate Kane fans have forgotten her back-story.

From the DC Wiki page for the Pre-Flashpoint Kate Kane page.

Jacob Kane eventually married weapons heiress Catherine Hamilton. This new wealth established Kate as a socialite in Gotham City's upper crust. She became notorious for her partying and drinking.

One night after a party, she was pulled over by officer Renee Montoya. Instead of being fined for drink driving, the two entered in a relationship. They broke up when Renee told her she had no direction in her life, no education, and no apparent goal. 

 The details are different but in fact Kate seems to have come from a very similar place.

P.S. THIS IS MY 100TH POST ON THIS BLOG!!!!!!!!!

I was mentioned in the Gotham Podcast

http://www.podasterynetwork.com/2015/02/19/1x16-the-blind-fortune-teller/

I am quite glad they enjoyed my Emily Fields suggestion.  May or may not have realized I meant it partly as a reference to how Talia has a similar look.

There was another thing latter they replied to.  I made other comments in Chat, many were just repeating what I said in my last Gotham post on this blog.

One was something I expanded on in a comment on a DC TV Talk post.

I think it’s possible that Gotham’s Barbara is a merger of Barbara and Kate Kane and that she’ll become Batwoman

The last name they’ve given her is similar. And she has the Romantic link to Renee Montoya.

Plus is thematically works since she’s the mother of Batgirl

What made Jerome work as a good possible Joker to me is the emphasize on how freaked out Tompkins was by him.   I want The Joker to be a force that brings out the worst in others around him.
"When villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories"

The Joker needs to come off as an unfathomable evil even to people who deal with horrible psychopaths all the time.  And sometimes spread madness like a plague.  That's why I love about The Joker Blogs.

I want to see Montoya be a good Detective and ally to Gordon.

I honestly don't like her being The Question.  I feel like Comics sometimes take their crossoverness to far.  Someone introduced as a Batman side character becoming a successor to a character that was originally a completely different company is really lame to me.  I'm a fan of Montoya because of who she was before Infinite Crisis.  If they want to homage her Question future just have her meet Vic Sage.

I want Barbara to have marry Gordon and have Barbara II before the end of Season 2.  I don't want them putting that off forever.  Then have and Gordon get divorced.  Then have her become Batwoman like I suggested.