[Superman by: Alex Ross, Batman from: Batman Beyond 1999]

Hope we see more of her and an absolute John Constantine! Man I wonder how much of John life Darkseid has ruined or lefted untouched.

Wonder Girl

I finally have The Harley I’ve Always Wanted!!!

| Hot Toys MMS773AE The Suicide Squad 1/6th scale Harley Quinn |

The Suicide Squad Harley Quinn is a figure I’ve been wanting for years now. I’ve had two version in the dress be made that were extremely mediocre but never the outfit I absolutely loved.

It took long enough but she’s finally here. And now I almost have the whole squad completed!!!

I love Cassandra Cain. She's arguably my favorite member of the Batfamily, which is why it's been so frustrating to watch this book become something I increasingly struggle to enjoy. I've had issues with Tate Brombal's Batgirl run for a while now, and I think it's finally time to talk about them, because my problems with this series go beyond simply not liking the direction of the story.

One of my biggest criticisms is how heavily this book leans into Orientalism and outdated stereotypes about Asian people and cultures. There's this recurring reliance on outdated tropes, particularly the dutiful Asian daughter, alongside the seemingly endless need to associate Asian characters with swords, ninjas, and vaguely mystical traditions. And while those elements aren't inherently bad, the way they're used here often feels shallow and culturally careless.

For example, why is Cassandra Cain carrying a katana? If the goal was to give her a sword, wouldn't a jian or dao make more sense? Obviously, a Chinese character can use a Japanese weapon, but that's not really the point. It's the larger pattern of treating different Asian cultures as interchangeable aesthetics rather than distinct cultures with their own histories and traditions. And that leads into an even bigger problem I have with the series: it frequently feels like Asian culture is being treated as one giant monolith.

Cultural differences are blurred or ignored in favor of a generalized Western idea of what Asia is supposed to look like. Why, for example, are we leaning so heavily into ninja imagery when dealing with characters and traditions connected to Nepal? Ninjas are rooted in Japanese history, so using that imagery without much consideration for the actual cultural setting makes the world feel less authentic. Instead of exploring the richness and diversity of these cultures, the book seems content to borrow whatever imagery fits its desired aesthetic. The result is something that wants to celebrate Asian identity but often ends up flattening it.

What makes this even more frustrating is how the story handles Cassandra herself. For a book with her name on the cover, Cass often feels strangely secondary to Lady Shiva and the overwhelming presence of her biological family. So much of her characterization seems to revolve around her relationship with her mother, what Shiva wants, and the expectations placed upon her. And that brings me right back to the dutiful Asian daughter trope. Rather than allowing Cass to exist as her own person, with her own motivations, choices, and relationships, the narrative repeatedly defines her through her mother. It often feels like she's reacting to everyone else's decisions instead of actively shaping her own story.

That's particularly disappointing because Cassandra Cain has always been a character whose appeal goes far beyond her bloodline. Her struggle to define herself outside of the violence she was raised in, her complicated relationship with language and communication, her desire to help people, and the family she found through the Batfamily are all fundamental parts of what makes her compelling. Her story has always been about the idea that your origins don't have to determine who you become. Yet this run seems almost convinced that her biological family is inherently more important than the family she chose, which feels like a strange direction for a character whose entire identity was built around rejecting the destiny her parents intended for her.

And to be clear, I don't think exploring Cass's relationship with Shiva is inherently a bad idea. There's a lot of emotional and thematic potential there. But when that relationship starts consuming nearly every aspect of her character, it stops feeling like meaningful exploration and starts feeling reductive. Cassandra should be more than her mother's daughter, and she certainly shouldn't feel like a supporting character in her own ongoing series.

Ultimately, I think that's what bothers me most about this run. It takes a character with an incredibly distinct identity, history, and emotional foundation and places her in a story that feels increasingly disconnected from what made her interesting in the first place. The cultural representation often feels superficial, the character work feels repetitive, and the narrative seems more interested in the mythology surrounding Lady Shiva than in Cassandra's own growth.

I wanted to love this book. I genuinely did. But at this point, so much of it feels like manufactured drama and endless narrative wheel spinning, dressed up as something more profound than it actually is. There's a difference between giving a character a complicated story and simply making that story unnecessarily convoluted, and unfortunately, this run has increasingly felt like the latter. It's become an exercise in tedium, and that's a shame because Cassandra Cain deserves so much better.

3D primted and worn to an event within a week an a half my partner built this for me as per my engineering specs

Article Summary

• Absolute Batman #25 has reportedly topped 775,000 comic shop orders, smashing the series' previous preorder record.
• Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta's milestone issue is positioned as the biggest Absolute Batman chapter yet.
• Absolute Batman #25 delivers the first major showdown between Batman and Joker, with huge twists to follow.
• Barbara Gordon takes on the mantle of The Bat, launching a status quo shift that reshapes the next 25 issues.

SOURCE: https://bleedingcool.com/comics/absolute-batman-25-has-had-over-three-quarters-of-a-million-orders/

So, to my own disbelief, I finally achieved my dream of writing my own DC series! In fact it's even more of a dream than that because it's a horror anthology inspired by B:TAS and Uzumaki and I got to go absolutely wild with it. Also it stars Duke and Damian! And the regular citizens of Gotham!

It's out this Monday, Oct 19th, just in time for halloween, and episodes will release for free every week. The artists have been absolutely incredible too, credits below.

I made a lot of bold swings in this series, but I'm very proud of it and I really tried to do justice to these characters. Thank you for looking!

CREDITS (Instagram)

Story by mikebcomics

Inks by ekasseks

Storyboards by jinxcrest101

Colours by Paula Fidelis

Flats & Renders by hyakunanaarts

Backgrounds by pingapenguin & felico_studio_bkk

Letters by roival23

A whole page this time.

Once again, credit to Nick Filardi for the convenient file.

Original is, of course, by Jim Lee and Scott Williams.

Timelapse on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/artyjohnny.bsky.social/post/3mxwz7afioc2d

And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Deh8tEIt4NU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&dlrf=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Outside of crossovers and team ups, what is Flash's best story? Either Barry or Wally. I was talking to my brother the other day and we both realized that we couldn't think of a single one that didn't involve another hero, we really only kept up with the Flash in Justice League and Crisis Events so we aren't experts. I know I've read other Flash-centric comics but only Rebirth comes to mind. The Flash of Two Worlds but even that has Jay Garrick in it. If you were going to recommend a Flash story to someone just getting into comics, which would you pick and why?

Out of context for sure but still pretty funny

https://www.instagram.com/p/Dejw3Cegmf4/?rpxt=MWpuZDR5ZXk2dGFkZg==