SoleminiSanction

A guide to Hawk Ladies from twt account @atmxpalmers

if you've ever watched a movie with your film buff friend and chatted about it afterwards, that friend might have pulled hours more of conversation out of the same 90 minutes of screentime, and wondered how the fuck they did that - it's not raw intelligence, it's a skill that's been honed. And I learned a lot about film from talking to friends who knew about film, and reading critique by film scholars

literature works exactly the same. so if you want to get more out of your reading, there are things you can do to train that. Find a book or short story you think you've got a pretty good grasp on, preferably from a widely read & respected author like Ursula K Le Guin or Ray Bradbury (if you're new at this don't swing for the Toni Morrison or the Samuel Beckett yet unless you feel very comfortable with the complexity of the text - the point is to develop a complicated new skill on good foundations). Then go to JSTOR, create a free account, and look up criticism on the story you've chosen. Find something that looks readable to you and at least somewhat interesting. Read that article, and look at what that writer got out of the same story you've read that you didn't get. Do you see the critic's points? Did they teach you something about the text? Go reread that story and see if the criticism has changed how you read it. Are you seeing more? Are you thinking about the implications of a line that you hadn't noticed before? Does the story feel richer now?

you don't have to read more deeply if you don't want to (but i'd recommend it, i genuinely think it makes you a better person)

if you want to learn to read more deeply, the resources are out there. try to find critical literature (that is, academic writing that analyzes the text) on works your familiar with so you can get a sense for how to do that analysis too

learning to deep read literature can help you deep read many areas of your life

And then I went to the USAmerican Midwest

Rains frequently, but the worst is like standing under a bathroom shower. Genuinely inhospitable rainstorms are uncommon.

Along the coast, it's pretty easy in most areas to walk to at least one store, or else there's usually a bus or shuttle available. There are sidewalks and bike lanes everywhere.

It's a temperate boreal rainforest, so while there are many freshwater lakes and rivers, they're usually pretty cold. The biggest danger is typically getting caught in a strong current, and the most dangerous animals in swimming distance are on land.

Earthquakes happen almost every day, but the vast majority go unnoticed. Buildings are designed to withstand bigger seismic activity, so unless it's a 5 or higher it just kind of feels like having low blood sugar for a second. There are no tornados

Rural Illinois, USA:

One minute it's sunny, then ten minutes later that distant smudge on the horizon has swallowed the entire sky in black clouds and the water is coming down like waterfall and you literally CANNOT SEE. Then there's a crash like cymbals and you need to get indoors because the thunder and lightening are on TOP of you

No sidewalks until you are in the smack dab center of town, which is a three hour walk or twenty minute drive from wherever you are.

There aren't many natural bodies of water other than small ponds and creeks, and because the environment is so much warmer, those are filled with snapping turtles that can grow bigger than a nine year old child and water snakes that are incredibly venomous. These are paired with leeches and mosquitos for that sweet umami flavor.

Damian's BIG ears. It's such a great character detail to drive home that he's young and childish not just short, and a hint that he hasn't yet "grown into himself" for a lack of a better term.

"You remembered to buy the baby formula?" "Yup, and the money for the sitter." "Thanks honey." So, Babs and Dick have a kid in this world?? That's a wild thing to drop as casual battle banter.

God the effect with the demon bird/Rok basically not being colored is so cool, especially when it makes him looks like the gutter of the page itself is reaching into the world of the panel.

Damian's cape, especially the hood, being too big for him. Especially the way it makes him look when he's pouting/sulking.

"That's the annoying part when you dislike someone who reminds you so much of yourself, isn't it?"

"Had their father been there, he'd have told them to assess the situation first... Scan the battlefield for advantages, establish a strategy... But tonight, the hounds were unsupervised... Like beasts on the prowl, they pounced... underestimating their prey."

The squiggliness of the panel where Jason realizes he shot Damian!!

The fact that a Jason's shitty apartment looks so much like the one Bruce found him squatting in as a child.

The little Wayne Enterprises™ tech graphics that only appear in Tim's issue.

I love it when people remember that Tim is the family politician. Like, Alfred straight up called him that in ALPoD. Whether you think he got it from his parents or not, I do love seeing him portrayed as the one who knows how to work a room and do the wining and dining sort of spy craft.

"I can tell you feel bad about killing that guy. But do you feel bad because you hurt someone... or because you were punished for it?"

Still my favorite line in the whole comic, something I'd needed to see Damian confronted with for years, and in the collected edition I can better appreciate that it comes close to the halfway point of the series -- a literal and figurative turning point for Damian's character. "These are the questions that expose your character" indeed.

The way all the hoity-toity crowd at the party is always depicted as giving Damian a wide berth, but also clearly glaring at him; the way the art shows Damian's emotions with every panel is so, so good.

Flashback!Robin!Tim is so!! Tiny!! And cute!!

Merle's design is great, especially the Carrie Kelley-esque glasses. Does somewhat spoil my guess that it was Damian himself under the sack but so it goes.

Ohhhhhh the Talia childhood flashback!!

Also I like how defined and aquiline her nose is even in the simplified flashback style.

"Knowing full well she'd always be a hand, and never the head," is a great line, but I'm not sure it hits as strongly as it could have with Ra's being called the Demon King instead of the Head of the Demon. Like yeah I know that's what his name translates to (or so I've heard) but it doesn't parse the same. Does make her "Talia Head" name extra funny though.

Also funny: the fact that, in an extra-stylized flashback sequence where everyone is portrayed as shadows wearing clothes, they went out of their way to replicate that big iconic BruTalia kiss right down to Bruce being shirtless.

"She was so young when she met the champion, when she had her son... Did she want all these things, or did she want to want them, to please an increasingly cruel father?" That is SO GOOD. The rest of this has already effectively supplanted Morrison's version in my personal canon, and I'm adopting that one specifically.

(Tangentially this has also strengthened my low-key Talia/Janet Drake crack pairing)

"You always said not to put one's individual self at the center of all things!" "But she was always slaving away for that demon. Under his boot. 'If I can save her from this, we'll be free.'" It's all so good. Instant new touchstone for the whole Demon web.

"Yer mind is so much more... open here." On a page with no gutters, no panels, just the black and the flashes of metal sparking from the blades... fuck I love comics.

"I've regretted being the son of the Demon's Head so badly. All I wanted was to be the son of the Bat to make up for it. But the Bat has its limits, and I am the son of the Demon too. I can redefine what both ideals mean." Cheering, dancing, spinning around, it feels so good summed up so well!"

I love that Silas doesn't forgive Damian. I love that the entire conversation begins with a direct refutation of the "You can't blame him he had such a hard life" idea and follows up with, "You were molded to think this way, but it was still your hand on the blade, which means the guilt is still yours." And I adore that, with all of that firmly stated and laid bare, Damian isn't made to submit to the unreasonable demand for retribution, even one that comes directly from his victim. He did those things. He carries the responsibility. That doesn't mean he's evil or worthless or deserves to die.

And bringing it all back around to Talia on the final page, letting her be so human even in the role of the main character's mother? Love. So much.

Specifically, a big ol' golden retriever of a man she meets as a civilian. Bouncer at her favorite club, maybe. He knows her casually as Steph, and maybe they've flirted a little, but it's never been anything serious since she's still clearly getting over a break-up.

Then, something goes down, as things do in superhero comics, and golden retriever man is rescued by Batgirl. And, because Steph is historically Not Great at keeping her secret identity, she quips something at him while he does that's a direct echo to their previous flirting, cluing him in to her identity.

(He then goes home and falls down the research rabbit hole on the "Aaron Black" media push but that's background stuff.)

And then. Then.

This sweet himbo of a golden retriever man decides that, obviously, the best way to repay Batgirl for saving his life is to become a superhero who can help her right back! And so he does. In my heart, he's a big ol' nerd who models himself directly on his favorite fictional hero, The Gray Ghost, because that was actually a great idea that deserved to be in a better story.

So the first thing he does when they first meet as Gray Ghost and Batgirl is blurt out her real name, and the second thing he does is immediately apologize for figuring that out and promise to be more careful about 'codenames in the field.' Once he explains his intentions as Gray Ghost, he starts following her around like an eager puppy, rushing into fights like Leroy Jenkins and relying on his football skills and sports armor to get him through.

Within a few days, Steph is at the end of her rope trying to keep this dumbass guy alive (and more than a little steamed about Tim, Babs and Cass teasing her about the whole thing, calling it a taste of her own medicine), maybe even to the point of losing her temper and yelling at him over it.

But then. He does something stupidly heroic (emphasis on the stupid) like tackle a monster-villain to get it/them off her and gets mauled pretty severely in the process. Steph naturally takes the opportunity to recover quickly and save the day, then rushes over to tend the guy's wounds, and Mr. Gray Ghost gives her a dopey smile through the pain and blood and calls her the most incredible thing he's ever seen before passing out.