looks like your revenge revunged

I knew going into it what would happen to Talia. I still wasn't prepared for what she goes through in that story. But what I had no clue about was what that story does to Ra's al Ghul's character.

I have to keep reminding myself that this all came out post-9/11, during the height of Arab-specific xenophobia and racism.

Rucka's one of my favorite comic writers, so it stings all the more that Death and the Maidens is such a huge misstep. I want to chalk this up to editorial mandate and their beef with the al Ghuls.

Having Ra's al Ghul work with n*zis is character assassination of the highest order and absolute bullshit. The same Ra's who in older continuity used his organization to fight the Axis powers during WWII? Who came up with this? Ra's al Ghul is by no means a good person. But he's not a one-dimensional cartoon villain, and making him work with n*zis cheapens his complexity. The same complexity that makes him such an interesting villain in the first place is absent here—like his relationship with Talia, his respect for Bruce. Ra's rarely does right by Talia, but he loves his daughter, that's always been a staple of his character.

I hate, hate, hate the way Talia's utilized here, and her complete lack of agency. So begins Talia al Ghul's villain era and the demise of her characterization in modern comics. It's painful to read, especially coming from a writer I normally trust to write women well. And knowing that Morrison will later double down on this trajectory makes it all the worse.

Also, being an Arrowverse fan before reading this is wild. Like, I know the Nyssa in Arrow is basically reflavored comics Talia, but it's still weird reading Nyssa's name attached to such a deplorable character.

Last but not least, my Brutalia crumbs:

R: You have not heard my offer. B: Talia's not yours to give, Ra's. R: No, not anymore. B: Then there's nothing you have that I could possibly want.

So point #1, the Stephanie of it all. I already knew all the Steph stuff going into it, tried to brace myself for it, but it didn't lessen the blow at all. The way she's treated is disgusting.

TimSteph isn't my ship. But wow the treatment of that relationship is so awful in the events leading up to and throughout War Games. Tim and Steph are canonically in love and in a good place in their relationship up until Tim quits being Robin. And then Stephanie basically ghosts Tim for the 71 days that she's Robin? And Tim just... accepts that? Like what in the lazy writing. And then War Games kicks off and Tim shows zero concern at all for Stephanie—he doesn't even ask about her? There's just no way.

Also throughout War Games, there are literally only two people who are remotely kind to Stephanie: one is her best friend and the other is someone she's never even fucking met before. The fact that Catwoman has only just met Steph, but already treats her with more respect and compassion than almost anybody else in the Batfam ever has is wild.

And then you have Cass, who's the only one actually concerned for Steph's safety. Who spends an entire issue (Batgirl #56) frantically searching Gotham for her. And then you get this fucking panel in Nightwing #98:

And then Steph's death. The fact that Bruce never told Tim (or Cass) that Steph was dying, the fact that Stephanie's final moments are with someone who treated her like utter garbage for a majority of the time he's known her. It's all infuriating.

This panel gutted me. This whole scene is one of the only times Batman's written compassionately.

Which brings me to point #2: the Batman of it all. Bruce is written to be painfully unlikeable and quite frankly pretty out of character. Batman can absolutely be an asshole, but not to the degree he's portrayed here. Why is he speaking to Barbara like that?

And Barbara... Babs would never call Cassandra stupid. Barbara spends so much of Cass's Batgirl solo run being Cass's pseudo mom/big sister, treating Cassandra as a person first and Batgirl second, and trying to make sure Cass feels loved and like a human being instead of a weapon. Of all the people for Barbara to be an asshole to, making her be a jerk to Cass is such bad writing.

These writers and the editorial clearly had a story they wanted to tell and didn't care which characters they assassinated in the process.