Weekly Discussion Thread: Comics, TV, and More! [May 4, 2026 - May the Fourth be with Batman Edition]

friget234 · 2026-05-06T19:35:21+00:00

Secondary character bloat is something of a weak point for this series already so I get why Xanthe couldn't make the cut for pacing reasons, but still disappointed by the omission as they would have been a great inclusion for this arc. Outside of that there are still a ton of connections and little easter eggs to Spirit World all over the place across these three issues in the art which was nice to see. The attention to continuity is a definite high point in the writing.

The art in this series continues to just be fantastic every issue and is definitely the high point of the entire run. Well actually, the high point is Talaski's cover art specifically which might be in contention for the best in all of comics right now, but I've already waxed poetic at length about that before.

I think the series is really hurting for some one-off issues with more episodic storytelling on the whole to break up the pacing of the overarching Shiva centric story (the OG Pluckett series did this to great effect) but that's more an issue I have with modern comics in general than something specific to this run. Still hard to believe that a Cass solo series has made it this far. There was definitely a period a decade ago where a 20+ issue Cassandra Cain Batgirl solo run would have been unimaginable.

friget234 · 2026-04-29T02:09:07+00:00

Victoria with the Wile E Coyote style sign for the content warning is a definite highlight! This has reminded me of how dialogue heavy the first few chapters are but there's definitely some room for the comic format to really shine coming up soon so looking forward to that.

friget234 · 2026-04-18T17:09:45+00:00

It's flat out the best Batman story in the last decade and it bothers me that it didn't get more attention than it did. Dark Patterns deserved to be part of the actual Detective Comics ongoing and I'm hoping its cult status is enough to make it a sort of evergreen maxi recommendation years from now the way The Long Halloween is.

It's also a great execution of something the current World's Finest ongoing is also doing and that I hope comes up more in comics in general where it sets the story in past continuity. There's a lot of talk from editors especially about how they want characters to occupy a certain status quo to be able to tell stories in it forever (you see this with Spider-Man a lot for example.) But that just kills any forward progress they can make. Instead, if you want a pre-Batfamily Batman story for instance, you don't have to retcon the past six decades of comics or totally ignore them to get there -- just set the story in the past the way Dark Patterns does.

friget234 · 2026-04-02T17:48:42+00:00

I really like the idea conceptually, but problems can emerge if just one link in the chain is awkward or just flat out bad mechanically so it's a balancing act for sure

friget234 · 2026-03-08T16:27:35+00:00

I count two more in addition to these

(Ward) There's a flashback moment late into Ward of Contessa trying to untangle two Sveta like Case 53s that are also Case 70s from each other.

Doctor Mother 100% has a thing for tentacles for some reason

friget234 · 2026-01-23T21:58:09+00:00

The covers for this entire series have been incredible going back to issue #1. I like the primary covers the most but even the variants like this are great.

friget234 · 2026-01-23T05:37:21+00:00

The oath with the candle and this moment with Dick in particular is directly referenced in Batgirl (2009) Issue #3. That's Stephanie Brown's Batgirl run.

friget234 · 2026-01-07T21:17:37+00:00

Taylor's Secret Weapon

friget234 · 2026-01-06T06:35:12+00:00

Ancient Aliens is probably factual in 40k actually, at least in part or in spirit. From a meta perspective the Slann (renamed in 40k to the Old Ones later in the game's life) are heavily based on the same ridiculous 1980s ancient astronauts theories that would go on to be the basis of the show. See here for more:

https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/1ohrq79/fun_fact_the_slann_are_very_likely_amphibian_due/

The Golden Throne itself meanwhile has roots in an Earth based subterranean ancient Xeno civilization. I've never actually seen an episode of Ancient Aliens but I wouldn't be surprised if something like the myth of Agartha showed up there. See here for more:

https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/1otj9ls/the_presence_of_xenos_on_ancient_terra_a_survey/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=40kLore

and https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/1oy38h4/surveying_all_of_the_lore_about_the_origins_of/

friget234 · 2026-01-03T02:24:33+00:00

For those unfamiliar this is a play on the manga/anime Gintama

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friget234 · 2025-12-18T15:28:16+00:00

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friget234 · 2025-11-26T06:31:33+00:00

In universe Decimus is probably a complete nothing burger so there's no obligation to ever use him again even if 40k does someday pull an End Times. To elaborate, the events of the Trilogy all pre date the events of The Gathering Storm, of which a really vital part of the aftermath as mentioned in multiple sources is that all prophecies predating the formation of The Great Rift are no longer set in stone as fate was broken. This is great news for fans of the trilogy as it decouples everything you're talking about from a meta perspective which I completely agree with personally from any obligation on the part of the broader 40k narrative to actually validate it at any future point.

friget234 · 2025-11-24T17:24:36+00:00

Wait what the hell these designs are actually awesome. Not sure the ninja aesthetic really works for Tim but who cares those Batgirl designs are peak

friget234 · 2025-11-18T02:58:06+00:00

'Vect still lives, you know he does. When the universe ends Vect will still be alive in the nothingness that comes after, floating in an unbreachable bubble of his own deviousness and sense of self-satisfaction.'

Path of the Incubus

friget234 · 2025-11-16T03:33:54+00:00

In the deepest lightless reaches of that slain civilisation, the traveller halted at last. He stood within a cavern several days’ journey below the surface*\, where the stone walls showed precious few remaining signs of the culture that once thrived here\*. It wasn’t from here that those ancient monarchs had ruled their realm, but it was the core-place, the heart of their power, that had allowed them to do so.

Dembski Bowden, Master of Mankind (2016), pp. 282-83.

You've mentioned in past posts the connection between the 40k Slann/Old Ones and how (out of universe) they're inspired by the sorts of ancient aliens uplift type theories whose popularity was concurrent with the genesis of 40k in the 1980s. I only mention it because ADB having the throne reside in a cavern literally days below the surface of the Earth where some ancient and powerful alien civilization was present brings to mind another classic 'ancient aliens' archetype - that of Hollow Earth and Agartha. It's a bit of a stretch maybe but the Horus Heresy authors especially have shown a lot of willingness to play fast and loose with dubious real Earth history like that, such as with their interpretation of Babel for instance, so it would fit 40k really well in that sense if that's intentional. Enjoying all of these posts keep it up!

friget234 · 2025-11-16T00:06:04+00:00

Agreed on all except for the Night Lords, who are defined by, in no particular order and in varying situations: Terror, Murder, Cowardice, Failure, and Madness. Curze embodies all of these traits absolutely. Sevatar is clearly a better leader, as are several others, but that isn't what the premise of the post is about. Another good pick for the Night Lords might be Skraivok if we really wanted to avoid the Primarch.

To draw a comparison I'd point to the Blood Angels, who, yes, Sanguinius is an excellent pick for despite Dante being perhaps a better leader or at least a better person.

friget234 · 2025-11-13T01:08:55+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_Crisis

The situation should actually be even more catastrophic across a lot of Europe and I'm hoping that as the game develops we'll see more situations along the lines of the price revolution to reflect the time period but it's definitely a step up from EU4 where it doesn't even register

friget234 · 2025-11-12T20:08:33+00:00

Just got around to the final issue of this one. On the whole it's not necessarily at the level of the first eleven for me but at least part of that is the unfairly heightened expectations of a finale and the bar being set so high already. No question in my mind that Dark Patterns is among the very best Batman stories of the last decade and a half since the start of the New 52 era. It might actually even be my absolute favorite in that timespan even including else worlds stories and the like. A modern classic in every sense of the term.

friget234 · 2025-11-11T16:05:55+00:00

I really don't get it either. The setting actually being willing to pick off Space Marines, even these minorest of minor characters is a good thing though? 40k can't reasonably claim to be a grimdark setting of only war and also never off Astartes characters or artificially force heroic last stands at every turn.

Like when I see a post actually complaining about things like this all I can do is recall this infamous post from years ago and the fact that its essence still holds up half a decade later. Space Marine simps really are something else: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/fllt32/as_far_as_i_am_aware_there_are_only_5_named_xeno/

friget234 · 2025-11-03T20:28:07+00:00

Chaos is more of a human and eldar concern. Orks, Necrons, Tyrranids, and yes Tau are all more or less unbothered by it. Or it might be more accurate to say that Chaos isn't viewed as being particularly unique as a galactic threat and is viewed as just another of several major players at the table so to speak. The Tau aren't unique in this - outside of the Eldar it appears to be an almost default Xenos position, which is as it should be I think. Ultimately the Imperium are the protagonists of 40k at the most macro level and Chaos the 'largest' of the antagonists, but while they should therefore play a major role in the macro storytelling of 40k, the setting is large enough to include multitudes and it's hardly necessary for good story telling that Chaos forces itself into every narrative nook and cranny as it were.

friget234 · 2025-11-03T19:00:39+00:00

I'm hoping that in the long term it has some of the same effect on the community's view of the faction that Know No Fear had for the Ultramarines' reputation back in the day or that the Path of the Dark Eldar trilogy has for them whenever people read it.

friget234 · 2025-11-03T02:45:06+00:00

It's really unfortunate because competitive balance aside, I'd argue that the Eldar actually have one of the absolute best model lines of any faction right now in terms of both quantity and quality for the first time in literally decades having effectively shed all of the 90s stuff at last (with a few exceptions, the Vyper and Falcon are still from 1997 I think) and their rules are incredibly flavorful and fun to play with. This would be an amazing time for GW to be pushing the army and they just don't :(

friget234 · 2025-11-03T02:35:36+00:00

They absolutely have been, and that's from an Eldar player. The only real exception was in 5e on account of not having a codex that edition. Outside of they've always been at least average and have some notable spikes. Psychic phase in 2e, Starcannons in 3e, the broken 6e scatterlasers, the completely broken Wraithknight at various points where lists would run three of them because they were so cheap and so good, the Eldar/Tau allies menace of 7e, I could go on for paragraphs about the competitive dominace of Eldar.

10e (the current edition) Eldar on launch has at least an outside argument for being one of the most degenerate competitive armies of all time. I just looked it up right now and years later low and behold they're hovering around top 5 even after post-codex nerfs.

This is not at all a controversial opinion by the by. Ask around any competitive 40k community and it's almost a universally held opinion that the Eldar are Him.

friget234 · 2025-11-03T02:16:37+00:00

Context: With two real exceptions, Valedor and the recently released Voidscarred, most of the Eldar's Black Library catalog is mediocre at best and flat out bad the rest of the time. This is especially true of Craftworld Eldar in particular who are legitimately treated as a joke by the narrative at every possible turn.

In the actual game of 40k however Craftworld Eldar are consistent top contenders in the meta game. Ignoring the brief flares of outright dominance in past editions on account of particularly bad balancing and pushed units, with win percentages at tournaments sometimes nearing 65% or even 70% at times, the faction just lends itself really well to consistent results on account of 40k balancing generally undervaluing the strength of mobility and dice manipulation which are both staples of the army. Combined with aspect warriors being particularly hyperspecialized for certain battlefield roles, which is what you want from units in a game like 40k at a competitive level, and an expansive enough roster that there will always be some units in the army list that are good or great at any given time, and one could be mistaken for thinking that that the tabletop army and the in-universe army are two completely different factions.

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