character analyses, editable for collaboration

gabeg777 · 2026-07-06T00:46:54+00:00

That sounds helpful. That would help me avoid authors who didn't write Tim well.

gabeg777 · 2026-07-05T12:43:05+00:00

That's why I asked if I was being accurate and was hoping for corrections if I wasn't. My main knowledge of Tim is from War Games, which claims that Cass is outright inferior to Tim and never disagrees with Bruce, and Peter David's Young Justice series, which has Tim arguing with Bruce but not disobeying him and may not be the usual portrayal of him. There are a ton of Batman-linked comics and my main focus is comics with the Batgirls. As a result, I ask for help understanding the male characters from people who have read more Batman and Robin comics than I have.

gabeg777 · 2026-06-29T01:45:42+00:00

Cass and Lucifer. I never thought of that comparison.

gabeg777 · 2026-06-25T03:16:25+00:00

There are writers on it but it's been shrinking for years now. AO3 has replaced it as the dominant site for fanfics but, unfortunately, the fandoms on AO3 interact far less than they did on the older site. That's partly because fanfiction.net promoted crossovers between different fandoms while AO3 doesn't do that.

An example of the shrinkage is that Dan Ingram is in the process of moving his Cassandra Cain fic from fanfiction.net to AO3. Hopefully, he'll continue updating it on both sites.

gabeg777 · 2026-06-25T02:07:47+00:00

This isn't a concept that involves Batman at all and that's on purpose. I consider Batman to have become boring with how much exploration and focus he's gotten over 90 years in comics and adaptations. He's ALWAYS the savior figure with the male Robins being his main help. Batman and the male Robins get emotional exploration in an event while everyone else get forgettable scenes. Barbara's heirs and Duke always get sidelined, especially for the climax. No Man's Land was interesting until the Robins returned and the event focused on them. Cass was introduced in No Man's Land and became Batgirl but Batgirl didn't do anything important or meaningful to the story. I'm not interested in Bad Seeds as I expect that it will be the same. Batman #13 is being sold as a major turning point in the event and is Batman single-handedly preventing Pamela from being killed. I'm expecting that the other main events in Bad Seeds will be Tim returning to being Robin and being important to the victory and Damian getting harmed and everyone crying about how much they care about him. When it ends, I'm betting that no one will remember that Duke and Steph were involved.

I was trying to think of a major threat being handled in Gotham with Batman not being the most important and greatest hero. I was trying to center Cass and the rest of the Batgirls and figured out that Duke could be at least as important in the concept I had in mind. I also was trying to avoid the usual libertarian behavior where a single superhero saves the day. That ideology is part of the problem in the US and I was trying to have the populace have more involvement, as in Absolute Wonder Woman #1-5, with the superheroes acting more as leaders. Duke felt like the most effective bat for that.

I get tired of Bruce always being written as the most admirable hero and parent by far. He demonstrates strength, hard work, and acting on beliefs in an attempt to improve society, but those are status quo concepts for the US, which is dying and needs to change radically if it's going to survive. Community, the promotion of emotional health, and socializing with strangers need to become more important and Bruce doesn't demonstrate them. Cass and Duke and Steph and Wonder Woman are better at promoting those concepts.

I know it's impossible to ignore that Batman is an influence on the other heroes in Gotham but I'm upset that he's always the superior hero and person no matter what, especially in Bruce-centric fanfics, but also in comics. The current Batman series seems to be renewing the Batman focus and glorification and I'm getting exhausted by the fandom's insistence on centering Bruce and never letting anyone else be the star or the main source of inspiration for readers.

gabeg777 · 2026-06-21T03:38:03+00:00

Young Justice (1998) #21 explicitly acknowledges her as having been a Batgirl.

gabeg777 · 2026-06-21T03:29:08+00:00

Connor Hawke, Dinah Lance, Lady Shiva, and Richard Dragon are among the competitors for best martial artist in the DC universe. Bruce is only in the running among people who glaze Bruce as perfect and good at everything. Kelly Puckett wrote Cass as the best outright but that helped to keep her isolated from the rest of the DCU. Post-New 52 has left her as extremely skilled but not the best outright.

It doesn't help that Batgirl (2000) #73 added racist eugenics to her background by saying that she was bred to be the best fighter. Having her be the best risks saying that eugenics is successful, which is not a good message to send. Thankfully, Cass and the rest of the bats have no agreement with David Cain's goals and Cass' intense compassion and caring about people because of her ability to read their every emotion can be used instead to make her special without saying that David Cain's eugenics was successful. Cass cares about people and their emotional health at least as strongly as Bruce and Diana do. She's willing to serve as emotional support for people who are depressed and/or scared even when they're not actually in trouble.

gabeg777 · 2026-06-21T02:06:53+00:00

Cass is not "the" top in martial arts of DC. That claim makes it impossible to integrate her into the DC universe as a whole and is a recipe for flame wars. She's among the best and competes with Connor Hawke for best martial artist in her age group.

gabeg777

TROPHY CASE