#ask nev

the character everyone gets wrong

You know, while a lot of people do get Winry wrong, I think Scar and Ed himself might be where I've seen people miss the point the most.

There's a weird amount of people who don't get that Ed's arc is about overcoming pride, learning to accept help from others, and learning you don't have the power to do everything on your own, despite the fact the series practically beats you over the head with it. Most recently I saw someone say the ending to the manga/Brotherhood was "unearned' because obviously Ed would have traded alchemy for his brother even at the beginning! But the point is he wouldn't have thought about it at the beginning, because he believed alchemy was the answer to everything, that he truly needed that power to fix things. If someone had told them "oh the answer is give up your alchemy" back then, I think he wouldn't have believed it, he would have been like "hey I think you're trying to trick me and make me vulnerable, nope, that can't be the answer, I need alchemy to solve this". The whole point (and Truth's weird endgame) is he needed to grow as a person enough to figure out alchemy doesn't define him.

With Scar, I think there is a lot you can critique about how the narrative handled things, but I see people often miss that his arc was about reconnecting with his culture as much as anything else, and they miss that he was suicidal. It's not a simple "revenge is wrong" thing. Scar actually completely disconnected himself from his culture and values in his quest for vengeance-- he went against the religion he valued so much he became a monk, he explicitly gave up his name that was considered a gift from god in his culture, he didn't even think to look for other survivors, and when he did find them he left immediately. He was looking for his death along with vengeance in killing state alchemists, because he knew they'd kill him eventually, he wasn't an activist or anything. "Why didn't he explain to Winry he wasn't in his right mind when he killed her parents?" Because he didn't think that it made a difference and also he wanted to die. He literally told her "you have a right to kill me".

He gave up on preserving his culture, on any hope things could change, on his surviving community. His arc is about realizing he doesn't have to sever himself from his culture, his identity, that there's hope it can be preserved and hope things can change.

lmao thanks it wrote itself

the post.

the tags in question: #ok but imagine#jason: and now one son dies while the other-#Batman: oh shit i forgot!!! two sons actually!!! Tim lives there now too#Jason: you...you forgot about him?#Jason: maybe I'm not jealous of him anymore#Jason: okay so now TWO sons--#Batman: FUCK I forgot about Cass too.#Jason: a daughter too???#batman: I mean I haven't technically adopted her yet. well Tim won't let me adopt him either.#jason: just surprised you bonded with a kid and it WASN'T to replace another kid you'd fired#Jason: also what. what do you mean Tim turned you down. is he cooler than I thought#batman: okay okay I just remembered Cass is off on a quest to find out if Shiva is her mother so she's probably not there--#Jason: SHE'S OFF ON A QUEST TO FIND OUT WHO HER MOTHER IS? AND SHIVA IS A CANDIDATE?#Batman: yeah#Jason: THIS DOESN'T WORRY YOU AT ALL. THIS DOESN'T REMIND YOU OF ANYTHING#Batman: should it?#Jason: okay you know what forget the speech i'm just killing the Joker

(I wanted to work in something like

Jason: so wait why is everyone in Bludhaven now? lmao did they all move there to get away from you?

Bruce:...Alfred stayed.

Jason: ...

Hi! The Steph wiki has a complete chronology of all the issues Steph's appeared in here, so that's the best guide for a completionist (the links for each issue often include a summary and/or scans)

Steph is straightfoward in that her major (preboot) appearances are mostly contained to Robin (1993), Batgirl (2000) (Cass' series) and Batgirl (2009) (her own series). If you cover those, you've basically got the scope of her.

However there are some one shots and side appearances to check out, and arcs that I think are more important/essential than others, so here's an overview of the best/major stuff. (also, the publication timeline will sometimes have things happen out of order). You can get these issues thru a local comic book store, DC Infinite or other means.

It should also be noted for people who don't want to follow a strict chronology or don't vibe with the early comics, Batgirl (2009) (Steph's solo series) was an entry point for a lot of new fans even though not knowing the backstory probably makes some things confusing/not hit as much, and they're collected in 2 graphic novels titles Batgirl: Stephanie Brown. Robin #100-120 plus her appearances in Cass's Batgirl (2000) series was an entry point for me and how I fell in love with Steph. (And everyone should read Batgirl (2000) anyway). You can find the list of Steph's guest issues for that below.

Steph's debut in Detective Comics #647-649 is, obviously, the best way to start with her, though not reading it isn't a tragedy since it's also covered in....

Secret Origins 80 page Giant, which has a short story titled "Daddy's Little Vigilante". This summarizes her first appearance quickly and also goes into her childhood and backstory in more detail. And from there...

Robin #3-#5 (Steph's second major appearance, establishes a lot of things about her)*

Robin #15-16 (a nice little follow up to this arc).

Showcase '95 #5 "Uneven Parallels" short story (First solo story, turning point for an important relationship)

She shows mostly in Robin for a while after that, you can see all her appearances in the chronology I linked. The quality of the stories varies a lot, but Steph's consistently a delight, so it's all worth checking out if you want to see her full arc.

For example, Steph is a delight in Robin #26-27 but the story itself is kinda bad (school shooting PSA that is low-key (or honestly regular key) racist and Tim (Robin, Steph’s love interest) is pretty insufferable towards her in it but also look at her making fun of him I love her:

35 is good for seeing Steph’s anger towards criminals, 40-41 is a decent at for Steph, but warning for Dixon trying to clumsily handle trauma from sexual assault over in Tim’s story, 43-44 is another fine lil arc.

Next:

Batman: Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma

Robin #54 follows up on this special. Tim is extra insufferable in it, but we get one of Steph’s most famous lines.

Then we get to Steph's first big arc (and one of her most well known), her pregnancy arc. As shown in the chronology, It's Robin #56-#64

Unfortunately, it's written by a conservative and a lot of it is bad w/ some moments of anti abortion soapboxing and self loathing from Steph the writer clearly agrees with, but which I, as a normal person, find really in-character for Steph's terrible self esteem and harsh judgement of herself and read it that way. But there's no shame in skipping most of this arc If you want to avoid the worst parts, I recommend:

Robin #56 and #57 (the leadup, Tim and Steph's relationship begins, cute stuff) Read the first three pages of #58, which I have on the wiki here the last two pages are unneeded and bad There's a sweet part in #60 with lamaze class, The last three pages of #64 here (skip the first two pages to avoid annoyance) #65 (she has the baby, it's actually somewhat well written and pretty heartbreaking

Batman Chronicles #22 "Cry, Uncle" (one shot that gives some insight into Steph, cw: Steph's uncle is clearly a predator, but doesn't get farther than hitting on her an)

Robin 80 Page Giant

Robin #69 (some good development with Steph's Mom)

I waffle a bit at Young Justice #30, the whole 'girlz fighting over Tim, men scold them for it' is annoying and sexist, but Peter David does do a good job with Steph's voice with some funny moments. So it's definitely not essential, but there's some good stuff about it.

Robin #80, Robin #84, #87-88 (Steph's next important arc, when she officially starts integrating more into the Batfamily. Skipped two (issues of this (82-83) because I dont like them, not because of the stalking (Batfamily staple) but because Steph is smarter than how Dixon portrays her here. But read them if you want)

Robin #92-95, #98, Birds of Prey #39-40, Robin #99 (good little arc where Steph continues to get more involved with the Batfamily and deals with Dad trouble)

And finally we're getting to some of my favorite writing for Steph:

Batgirl (2000) #20-21, #26-#28 (Fantastic character work, and Cass and Steph's friendship is one of my fave relationship in comics)*

And then my other big fave is Jon Lewis's run on Robin:

Robin #100-113, she makes more sporadic appearances after this (#116, #119, #120) but I'd just simplify it and read #100-120, the entire run is worth reading for the character stuff.

Want to give a cw for Robin #111 for a backstory involving an adult attempting to sexually assault a child, but it's not shown and is handled pretty well in my opinion.

It's also important to note for context for Robin #106 on is that Bruce fires Steph in Gotham Knights #37. It's a great issue if you want to absolutely despise Bruce Wayne, but if you don't feel like being aggravated by him, you don't have to read it, they pretty much explain what went down in Robin. Steph's also let go from the Birds in Birds of Prey #43 but it's short and perfunctory (only three pages and very much "well editorial wants you not to be in this book, so bye", so again, not essential to read).

Batgirl #38 (the fallout of Steph being fired on Steph and Cass' relationship)

Batman: Family (good little miniseries, Steph appears in #2 and #8)

Robin #120-#125 (these aren't especially good comics, so you can skip if you feel like it, but it is important leadup to Steph's tenure as Robin)

And now we've gotten to Steph becoming Robin! Here's her major stories in a complete arc:

Robin #126

Batgirl #53

Detective Comics #796

Solo #10 "Second Chance" (published way after the others, but it's great)

Robin #127-128

Then we have War Games, in which Steph is brutally tortured while being sexualized and dies. Don't read this, it's bad. You just have to know she dies.

Batgirl #61-62, #72-73 (ghostly appearances by Steph. Once again, I just rec reading Batgirl (2000) in its entirety honestly, it's a great series)

Robin #170-#174 (Steph's return-from-the-dead arc)

Robin/Spoiler Special

I have recently been writing a crossover story about Songbird and Troll from the Thunderbolts being trapped in Gotham, and I was wondering if you had any advice for writing Cass? I feel like I have an okay grasp on her character, but I'm always worrying about getting things right.

Aw thanks that's so nice!

I'm glad you seem to think I write Cass well, I like to hope I do, but she's a character with a lot of nuance

I guess I try to keep what era of Cass I'm writing in mind in regards to her speech patterns. Since Erase the Epitath is post War Games I give her the vocal tic where she pauses a lot when she speaks because that was how she talked in the Gabrych era. I'd say pick your era and study how she talks in those comics. I will say in preboot comics her grammar is generally sound even if she struggles to find the right words, she knows how sentences should be structured even if she speaks in short ones.

I think the main thing I remember about Cass is 1. she's stubborn, funny, and a little shit sometimes. This interaction with Steph is my guiding light and why I always try to include a little bit of an edge and a sense of humor with her.

She can be bossy and controlling too (this comes out a lot in the early days with Steph), she's similar to Babs and Bruce in how 'my way or the highway' she can get about things, which leads her to clash with both of them sometimes. You also see it cause some minor friction with Tim (who is also like that):

Like here, Tim and Cass start debating and Tim actually realizes immediately it's going to go on forever if he keeps arguing with her because she will not back down, so he stops it.

2. She's not an emotional savant, her body language reading abilities let her pick up nuances of emotions sometimes but she doesn't always know the right way to react or interpret them and she definitely doesn't always deal well with her own emotions, she's not socially experienced. So the fandom thing of Cass always having the best advice and being the Batfamily therapist isn't based in fact. Which isn't to say she can never give good advice or say something insightful! I think sometimes her blunt way of approaching things can be helpful- for example, you can see how her understanding there's something beneath all his brattiness helps her be patient and direct with Damian in Gates of Gotham etc. But her abilities aren't magic therapy tools.

She is extremely compassionate though and that's what drives her. She believes in redemption, doesn't like hurting people more than she believes has to, and takes every death she can't prevent very personally. Seeing other people's pain and experiencing it as they experience (such as how she saw the way the man she killed felt when he died) does really impact her.

But really, reading lots of Cass comics and Cass meta will help you the most with this! For Cass's speech patterns and how her reading different languages works, I rec this post from @fantastic-nonsense for example, you can also see a bunch of cass meta by clicking the cassandra cain meta tag on the post.

Hey! My yearly top anime lists and anime overviews are a good look at a lot of anime I'd reccommend.

But for Utena and Michiko enjoyers specifically, there's definitely some more specific options.

Rose of Versailles and Dear Brother were both massive influences on Utena to the point I don't think the show would be what it was without them, so they're worth checking out-- both stories do have dated elements and a lot of heterosexuality winning out at the end though, so that has to be taken into account. Gundam: The Witch from Mercury famously wears its Utena influence on its sleeve, it's definitely not as artsy and loses some cohesion as it goes on, but it's a fun time.

Revue Starlight could not scream out it's Utena influence harder if it tried, takarazuka girls do swordfights that represent mental issues while a talking giraffe is there...it doesn't deliver on the queerness as much as I'd like, but it's a well done show and movie.

Sayo Yamamoto was the director behind Michiko & Hatchin, so you might enjoy her other works, Yuri on Ice (famous for being a sports anime with a gay romance at the forefront) and The Woman called Fujiko Mine. The latter was honestly a little too much for me, it does have some themes in common with Michiko, but the sexual stuff is. it's a lot. in a lot of ways. I know some people who love it though.

Anyway, here's some anime recs I'd consider high quality put into vague categories.

awesome complex girls/women bonding + explores grief

Journal with Witch (just aired its last ep, I haven't gotten a review up yet, but as a bonus, features a adult woman + child duo who fall into a family relationship and have to deal with each other's quirks, somewhat similar to Michiko & Hatchin)

A Place Further than the Universe

Fantasy that has messy women who grow a lot + some critique of sexism

The Twelve Kingdoms

Princess Tutu (plays around with fairy tale tropes in a way similar to Utena, but from a different angle with less gender, though there's still a lot of gender if you dig deep)

High quality anime with unforgettable female leads and a focus on their bond

Keep Your Hand off Eizouken!

Dead Dead Demon’s DeDeDeDe Destruction (warning: this is INCREDIBLY depressing at times with its relevance to current events. But if you like social commentary...)

Bocchi The Rock!

Girls Band Cry

Highly surreal story with a good female lead and lots of exploration of weird family relationships and mental illness

Kyousougiga

Well done queer themes + messy relationships + exploration of grief/mental illness/alienation

The Summer Hikaru Died (note- leads are guys)

This Monster Wants to Eat me

plays with gender and identity but also has swordfights

Land of the Lustrous

Revue Starlight

Just a good coming of age yuri

Bloom into You

I really disagree with you there! First of all, I don't like that Jason died in the first place--the reasoning for him being unpopular was very. of it's time. I personally do not mind that Jason may have killed a rapist, and I enjoyed him as Robin. Holding a poll to kill a child character and then killing him in SUCH a violent, painful and drawn out way is...in poor taste at best...I'd call it gross and ghoulish, myself.

Yes, he's a fictional character. But this is from the same company that was like 'we hate this kid maybe we should give him AIDS' because that's apparently a punishment or whatever and also said "cripple the bitch" about Babs. They way they treat these characters, and encourage fans to treat them, speaks of deeply held attitudes. Like we can't pretend classism wasn't involved here any more than we can pretend it wasn't misogyny with Babs, the aids thing was 100% "well he's a dirty street kid why wouldn't he get aids!!!"

It fostered a really fucked mentality in fans, and it's just incredibly close to torture porn too. Aaaand it and the Killing Joke pretty much ruined the Joker as a villain he cannot be fun or tbh, interesting anymore, the fact that a kid died being Robin ruins the wish fufillment of Robin and makes Batman look horrible for letting kids fight crime , when it's NOT supposed to be realistic! It's supposed to be fun and cool and a genre convention!

Jason was also relentlessly victim blamed after he died. Like I've been going through some comics where Jason was just mentioned and 75% of the time they find some way to blame it on him, he 'disobeyed orders' he 'wasn't skilled and all he had was anger' (that one's super bizarre because he was never presented as incompetent)... One thing that's happened as a result of his resurrection is the characters don't consistently do that anymore since it's awkward to do it when he's right there and he does not agree it was his fault (rightly!)

Second, they'd done absolutely pretty much every story they could do about his death anyway in the fifteen years. Bruce grieving, every member of the Batfamily hallucinating him, comparing everything reckless thing any Robin or Batgirl or Spoiler does to Jason, cute little ghost appearances, it's all been done. So like...why not bring him back if that leads to a new story? That's the thing with comics ongoing forever and a big reason I think characters tend to come back from the dead a lot. If your story is neverending, you'll naturally come to 'hey what if so and so was alive again".

So I don't really think there needs to be a justification for coming back, it was a poorly written story that shouldn't have happened in the first place, and also why not, there's a lot of interesting directions it could have gone in.

The way it was executed was bad. Lost Days is a surprisingly solid comic rereading it again, but other than that. man, The writing for Jason was a mess. But that doesn't mean he should have stayed dead, just that DC sucks at writing.

But he seems solid in a couple more recent comics I read in the Jason doc, and I think he's a fun character in Wayne Family Adventures (it's for kids and sometimes a little saccharine, yeah, but it means he's at least consistently characterized.) You definitely can write him well or at least as interesting.

Jason being popular with fans (particularly fanficcers, a good portion of whom are women) isn't really a big suprise--he is edgy and angsty and sarcastic boy and has the most tragic and broken relationship with Bruce probably which means daddy issues and family drama galore, which fanfic loves. and also is mad at Bruce the most and anyone who has to read Batman will want to rage at this man too so. I get it.

(There's also the fact that all the times he did "excessive force" as Robin involved violence against women (or children, once). This was definitely not on purpose, it was just because DC considered it to be EDGIEST THING, but it does make it easy to sympathize with his POV over Bruce when you read that).

And also seemingly BECAUSE DC doesn't handle him great-- a lot of the top fanfics (and ones I've read) are alternate takes on what could have happened-- what if catatonic Jason was found before Talia got him, what if she decided to bring him home after the Lazarus pit, what if the first meeting with Tim had gone differently, etc etc. And a lot of them are pretty good! I am all for kid Jason coming back and having good things happen to him and him actually awkwardly reinitegrating with everyone...it's really interesting.