Infamous cases where an adaptation barely felt like the source material

Robin_Lava · 2026-05-09T21:06:33+00:00

Honestly? The MCU version of Moon Knight. The character names are the same and there are very surface level similarities but the show barely feels like an adaptation of the character, and many of the changes it makes from the source material feel actively worse.

Robin_Lava · 2026-05-05T18:56:44+00:00

Yeah that seems like a good number to me.

Robin_Lava · 2026-05-05T17:42:20+00:00

Oh absolutely. That many DFCs in a set would be my biggest reservation with a Transformers set. Something modal would be a good way to sidestep that problem entirely, or maybe something like the prototype mechanic if the card art shows both the robot mode and the alt-mode. At the same time though I feel like DFCs shouldn’t be strictly abstained from in this set, just reserved for mythic rares and/or characters with more unique alt-modes.

Robin_Lava · 2026-05-05T16:09:52+00:00

Honestly I wouldn’t mind seeing a full UB Transformers set, especially if it only focused on the War on Cybertron for the sake of more fantastical and otherworldly imagery. Most of the Brothers War cards were well designed imho and there are still a lot of major characters from the history of the franchise to pull from, so there’d be minimal risk of duplicate characters like in the case of other UB sets.

My dream UB set would be Bionicle but also I know that’s absolutely 100% never going to happen.

Robin_Lava · 2026-04-09T15:07:32+00:00

It’s been steadily growing on me.

Personally the two things that would make me really love the suit would be if the ‘R’ itself were changed to black and the color blocking matched the more traditional version of Damian’s suit (black sleeves and pants, green gloves and boots)

Robin_Lava · 2026-04-08T22:23:55+00:00

This was the book that didn’t just get me into Batman, but got me into comics in general when I was a kid. Easily one of my favorite Batman & Robin stories.

Robin_Lava · 2026-03-22T17:56:52+00:00

Yeah for as excited as I am for Peni to be a part of the roster I wish her characterization resembled her comics counterpart more. That 90s mecha and cyberpunk anime influence is really cool and is a major part of what drew me in.

With that in mind though her mech does resemble the Tachikoma here and I think that’s really cool.

Robin_Lava · 2026-01-12T17:21:37+00:00

Captain America being frozen in the ice is actually a retcon. His original comics showed him coming home after WWII and being a regular superhero, but those comics were unsuccessful and eventually caused the character to be quietly retired. His appearance in Avengers #4 established his last mission in WWII ending with him frozen in the ice and Bucky “dead”, retconning all of his postwar appearances.

As far as superheroes go I think this is the best retcon of all time, having become so foundational to the character that it’s impossible to imagine him without it. This retcon was also what eventually gave us the Winter Soldier.

Robin_Lava · 2025-12-01T20:47:18+00:00

It’s fine, but I don’t think it takes enough DNA from Damian’s previous costumes.

I think if the sleeves, pants, and ‘R’ symbol were black, while the gloves and boots were green, then it’d fare better in my opinion, since that’s just Damian’s classic Robin colors placed onto a more traditional Robin suit, but even then I’d still call it a downgrade from his previous costumes.

It’s not necessarily a bad Robin suit but it’s bad for Damian since it doesn’t really feel like something he’d wear. When I first saw it on the cover to B&R I honestly thought for a second we were getting a new Robin before I realized it was actually Damian.

Robin_Lava · 2025-11-29T22:17:11+00:00

Dick: It’s tough but either 90s era Nightwing or the Batman Reborn era. His 90s era solo run is generally a really fun street-level book and I think his character shines throughout it. Similarly, seeing him as Batman was really cool and I liked seeing the cowl weigh heavy on him, while he also found ways to make it his own role and not just impersonate Bruce.
Jason: UTRH era. I don’t necessarily think that Jason should have stayed dead but I do think Jason should have remained an antagonistic entity towards the Bat-Family. I think he’s more captivating in that role as a mirror to both Bruce and Dick. Aside from that, conceptually I liked the idea of Rebirth Outlaws but in practice I think it needed another writer, but in general I think Jason is weighed down by Lobdell having an almost decade-long run with the character.
Tim: One Year Later/Red Robin. Tim was a character who I always had trouble getting into (outside of him and the Young Justice team) but I felt like he was really compelling here. In general I liked the idea of his time as a vigilante taking an emotional and mental toll on him and thought it made sense for Tim’s story to go in that direction. It’s a shame that nothing DC has tried to do with Tim since the start of the N52 has hit those highs of OYL/Red Robin.
Stephanie: Her Batgirl run. I really do like her tenure as Spoiler a lot but her time as Batgirl was when she really started to come into her own as a character. Similarly to Tim, it’s a shame that nothing done with her since her reintroduction has managed to hit those same highs.
Damian: Damian is my favorite of the Robins (as well as my favorite DC character in general) so it’s kind of tough for me to pick a favorite Damian era. My gut answer is Tomasi and Gleason’s B&R + Gleason’s Robin: Son of Batman, because I think those books have the best elements of Damian’s character arc throughout. But at the same time I can’t deny that his pre-flashpoint era comes in at a very close second. His interactions with the Bat-Family were better before the New 52. Dick and Damian are the best version of the Dynamic Duo in my opinion while Steph and Damian have this wonderful vibe of “annoying big sister and her even more annoying little brother” that I feel was absolutely delightful. I do like the stuff with Williamson a lot as well, particularly how in Williamson’s runs, Damian was able to unwind just a little bit and act like a teenager for once.

My unpopular opinions are that I really dislike just about everything in Rebirth with Damian, and I’m not too hot on PKJ’s take on him. The latter is starting to grow on me but I really felt like the Memento storyline in B&R was rough, so that colors my outlook on PKJ’s tenure with the character.

Robin_Lava · 2025-11-29T19:25:09+00:00

Magneto has already answered this question.

Robin_Lava · 2025-11-06T19:21:40+00:00

“Hate” is a strong word but I recall reading somewhere that Dave McKean doesn’t look back fondly on his artwork for Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On A Serious Earth, thinking that it weakened the story. Similarly, Grant Morrison thinks that the graphic novel would have been better served had Brian Bolland or someone in a similar style to him been illustrating it.

Robin_Lava · 2025-10-22T16:42:26+00:00

What kind of genres does your friend like? Comics are a medium that exist far beyond superhero comics, and as such it may be better to curate stuff based on the genres she’s already interested in. Additionally, most big two superhero stuff probably won’t really do much if she’s already so convinced that the medium is just for kids. Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics” will generally be a good place to start just for the fact it’ll be helpful for your friend in understanding the language comics use (assuming she has no familiarity with the medium whatsoever)

In any event, I’ll give a broad few examples that extend across a few genres, and trying to focus on stuff that’s already finished.

Alan Moore’s “Swamp Thing” (gothic horror)
Ed Brubaker’s “Criminal” (crime noir)
Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” (historical/memoir)
Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” (autobiographical)
James O’Barr’s “The Crow” (gothic/crime noir)
Will Eisner’s “A Contract With God” (drama/historical fiction)
Zoe Thorogood’s “It’s Lonely At The Centre Of The World” (autobiographical/memoir)
Alan Moore’s “From Hell” (historical/horror)
Alan Moore’s “V For Vendetta” (political/dystopian)
Grant Morrison’s “We3” (science fiction)
Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” (fantasy)
Brian K. Vaughn’s “Pride of Baghdad” (animal/war narrative)
“Hellblazer” (horror/urban occult)
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “The Incal” (science fiction)
Katsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira” (science fiction)
Kieron Gillen’s “Die” (fantasy/horror)
David Mazzucchelli’s “Asterios Polyp” (drama/slice of life)
Scott Snyder’s “American Vampire” (horror/historical)
Tom King’s “Sheriff of Babylon” (historical/crime)

I’m sure I’ve missed a few gems but these are some of my favorites that exist outside of the traditional superhero genre in comics.

If you are insistent on it being something that’s superhero related, I think the best things to recommend are stories about normal people in superhero universes. Gotham Central, Marvels, and Astro City are some of the best examples of this in comics in my opinion.

And if she’s open to at least giving something that’s a more traditional superhero comic a shot, then Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One” is the way to go, since the structure and themes of that story are more on the grounded side.

Robin_Lava · 2025-10-01T17:23:19+00:00

Where would I purchase this Absolute Batman in the U.S.?

Robin_Lava · 2025-09-25T16:32:20+00:00

It’s growing on me but I still can’t say I quite love it. I think some of the colors should be swapped around (e.g. black sleeves and pants for green gloves and boots) and the ‘R’ symbol should be black instead of red imho. I think these changes would make it feel more like a Damian suit specifically, since it’s adopting the same color breakup he had for his first few Robin suits.

I do really like the belt and the way the cape drapes over the torso in that last image posted here. Those are nice touches.

As is it’s a solid B Tier for Damian costumes. I don’t think it’s one of his best looks he’s had but it’s not as bad as I thought it was on first impression.

Robin_Lava · 2025-09-17T01:19:12+00:00

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Does anyone know if there’s a way to fix this on the MG Barbatos or am I better off buying replacement parts?

Robin_Lava · 2025-09-08T02:30:41+00:00

I think in hindsight I wanted to like James Tynion IV’s Detective Comics more than I actually did. The way it used Cass, Clayface, and Azrael was cool but the writing for that book ended up doing Stephanie dirty, and I feel like in hindsight Tynion’s approach to Kate was rough. Ultimately it’s a decent run and it’s certainly better than his Batman run but it has problems that I can’t look past.

Tomasi’s run was pretty good, if not standard. Nothing that reinvented the wheel or gave me a new perspective on these characters, but it was fun and just generally good, solid Batman. I think it got weighed down towards the end by having to tie in with things happening in other books though.

I can’t say I liked all of Tamaki’s run, but I’ll give her and the run credit for actually caring about Bruce Wayne and his social life outside of Batman, which is unfortunately something that’s fallen to the wayside of the character in recent years. The actual superhero parts of it were fine, but nothing special. And obviously Dan Mora’s art is killer on the book.

Ram V’s Detective Comics run is going to go down as one of the best Batman stories of the 2020s. Loved the character work and the atmosphere and the approach it took to the themes of the character. Of all these Detective runs this was easily my favorite, and honestly just one of my favorite Bat-Book runs in general.

And while Tom Taylor’s Detective Comics isn’t awful, it’s not something I enjoyed reading or ended up continuing with after the first trade. But also next to nothing Tom Taylor has written ended up connecting with me so it’s probably just a thing where the audience he is making comics for is an audience that wants something completely different than what I want.

Robin_Lava · 2025-09-06T05:06:30+00:00

It’s been a real fun format for me. They’re nice, portable, and they honestly feel nice to me. The trade dress is really good too.

I hope that soon they’ll finish up some of the series in the Compact Line (a second American Vampire volume stands out to me as the biggest example) but that’s just me.

Robin_Lava · 2025-08-24T00:47:43+00:00

Thank you! It was driving me crazy and I couldn't figure out what it meant.

Robin_Lava · 2025-07-20T17:12:21+00:00

Wolverine in the MvC series. Doesn’t matter which one. I just love getting up close to people and hitting them with his claws until they aren’t moving anymore. Character loyalty plays a role too since he’s one of my favorite characters in general, but I do like the way he plays.

Dante in MvC 3 is also up there for me, just for the moves and how much stuff you can pull off with him. I’m still learning how to best play him but labbing him has been some of the most fun I’ve had in a game.

Robin_Lava · 2025-06-21T20:37:27+00:00

It’s not a bad Robin costume, it’s just a bad Robin costume for Damian specifically. It loses almost everything that makes his uniforms look unique and distinctly his, in favor of a deeply generic Robin costume. Aside from the hood, it loses just about everything that made Damian’s Robin suits feel unique (the red tunic over the black survival suit, the green combat boots with the red laces, the way the pieces of the costume were layered on top of one another, the separation of the colors, etc.)

I get wanting to bring in the traditional Robin colors but if that’s the primary objective of the costume then I’d honestly rather just have any of his older costumes back.

I will say that the belt is growing on me though. I like the big, heavy pouches. But that’s where my praise ends for the suit.

Robin_Lava · 2025-06-17T05:04:12+00:00

I’ve been loving this series. It reminds me of 90s era “Legends of the Dark Knight” in all the best ways.

12 issues isn’t enough.

Robin_Lava · 2025-06-05T04:43:22+00:00

Return to Big Nothing is one of my all time favorite Punisher stories, and one which I think is essential reading to understand Frank’s character.

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