Untold Tales of Blackest Night

[sweettart1823]

Than it shows them in battle, and Donna is talking about her death and stuff like that.









"Today my idol, boyfriend, and mentor became zombies. FML." Also, listen I like when Donna's hair is sparkly as much as the next person, but it really shouldn't be sparkling anymore. Just saying.

Anyway there were a few other stories, and Buddy Baker creeping me the hell out. But yeah...

Comments

[silverzeo]

So... is this why Cass was so uptight in Titans... still no excuse for Conner starting a relationship with Aquagirl out of the blue... I know he was a flirt back in the 90s... but he was serious with Tana, Cass, even for Knockout... why Aquagirl?

[sweettart1823]

She could be so uptight because Henderson doesn't know what she's doing at all. Luckily this was written by Krul and he doesn't seem like he's writing her that way, I'm hoping really hard he writes her well.

And Conner didn't exactly start a relationship with Aquagirl, it seemed like that is where it could have been going but they didn't exactly get there and hopefully never will. I hate them even hinting that Conner is going to cheat on Cassie (like they have in the Teen Titans preview I hope it's just being misleading), and I hate that they started making Lorena some kind of boyfriend stealer. Bad writing all around.

[lieut_kettch]

It isn't Kon's (or Jaime's) fault that the writers decided to turn Lorena into a bad Latina stereotype.

[cuntfucius]

Yep, seriously. I hope she gets better writing in Brightest Day.

[cuntfucius]

/REMEMBERS BRIGHTEST DAY'S BRILLIANT RECORD WITH RACE

[darkknightjrk]

Eh--so far they've been doing Aqualad and Jason right, I think.

[cloud_wolf]

Random but I loooved Firestorm in The Siege of Starro with Jason and Ronnie being a duo.

[darkknightjrk]

Same here--and I got a semi-similar vibe from the latest issue where it was partly focused on them.

[brilliantnova]

THIS , I actually dropped the title cause I was personally so insulted by her characterization

[schala_kid]

Ditto, I mean at least if Conner is going to be with someone else please have him and Cassie properly break up.

Making Conner cheat on her like that is not cool.

[sweettart1823]

I've been saying they should have broken up when Conner came back, after Cassie said she was over him... then they could have seperated friends with no drama and wouldn't have the messy angsty break up that could ruin their friendship that I know is going to happen -_-

Not cool, AND out of character for him. He was flirty back in his earlier time but he was always faithful, and he's not really like that anymore at all. sigh.

[windiebird.livejournal.com]

He's had a few head-scratching moments but I really do love J.T. Krul. Blackest Night: Teen Titans, the new GA series (beyond all the mandatory Brightest Day stuff, which is fine but just kind of...there) and his Mindfield series. All compellingly written.

This was a funny buy for me this week. I was under the impression it was going to be fleshed out stories from Blackest Night but it was literally deleted scenes ^_^

Still a good comic (this section in particular) but I was surprised.

[cuntfucius]

I actually miss Dawn/Dove's blonde hair! In BoP and Brightest Day it's annoyed me that she's had her hair permanently white. Just one of those things that disappeared along with Jade's ability to turn her skin pink, I guess.

You know, it's sad how HAPPY my reaction was to this story in Untold Tales. Because I mean .. it's good, but not like WOW GOOD, but that's how my heart feels when I read this. That is how desperate I am for good Wonder Characterization, specifically for Cassie and Donna. And I really do trust Krul with Cassie. Say what you want about my baby Wonder, but I've always admired the way that she's pretty acutely aware of how everyone sees her as this party pooper and this intimidating cranky girl on her own team, and yet she still stands her ground. Now...that doesn't really excuse just HOW much they've been milking those aspects of her personality and have not shown us the fun, soft, light-hearted girl that likes to have fun with her boys and confide in her girls.

Donna here was just your standard "turning into a BL" stuff, but with the depressing added lack of will to live outside of not wanting to hurt people as a black lantern afterward (her musings on how maybe she should just give in and die) and blah blah. So her characterization wasn't as strong as Cassie's here. But it's still better than 99% of what she's gotten in JLA 8(

Anyway, I love these two girls. Like, more than anything. I always really buy Cassie's and Donna's love for one another, I don't know why -- but it's hard to buy that either feel close to Diana, which is DC's fault, not really Diana's, since they kind of hate her supporting cast. And Diana, herself.

My only qualm was that the super cool "DIE!!!" splash page was kind of ruined with Starfire's ass blocking the view.

[sweettart1823]

Yes, I like Krul, I think Cassie is his type of character I just feel like she is so I have hopes for him writing her, on the other hand I think Donna isn't his type of character, but amen to that JLA thing, I don't even think Robbinson knows anything about Donna. Just because she's had fifty billion origins doesn't mean she's had fifty billion different personalities. I don't even know... I hope Donna and Jades relationship will make up for that.

And I agree, Donna's never felt close to Diana to me, they have moments I guess but mostly it seems like they TELL us rather then SHOW us and it always feels weird when they do interact, it feels out of the blue like "why are they acting like they're so close, oh yeah they are I forgot" and really she's never been really close to any other Amazons. Where as Cassie does seem closer to Donna, as well as Artemis, more then she does to Diana. After Cassie's initial start Diana sort of became kind of like an unseen presence in Cassie's life it seemed. Which I guess fits her calling Diana her idol and Donna her mentor. But yeah, Cassie and Donna <3

xD What? You didn't like Starfire's ass front and center? It had like a whole page to itself really. I laughed...

[cuntfucius]

BKV (the guy who did Y:The last man and some Runaways) wrote the only story where I ever felt like Diana and Donna had a real untouchable bond. Jimenez uh kind of touched on that, but it was too based on encultured "girly" bonding for my liking, which didn't suit them. But... yes, I agree. You see, I think Krul actually really gets Donna (this could be because I've talked to him for long periods of time about her), but he's best at writing her sorting through her issues in a non "badass" way. Do I think he could get happy Donna Troy down? I don't know. But I do know that I agree with almost all of his views on her! And yes, ahaaa thank you. I'm actually making a post about all of the Wonders and their characterizations and comparing it to other men and women in the DCU, and showing that... yes, Diana has had reboots and yes, Donna in particular has been affected by those reboots, but Donna's personality has been very very VERY consistent up until her resurrection. Ever since then she's been wavering between three personalities, but there is that contrived memetic thinking about her where people just talk about how they "don't know who she is" anymore, I guess, because HA HA IT IS A FUNNY JOKE YOU GUYS GET IT? BECAUSE SHE HAS HAD A LOT OF RETCONS ! HA HA, LET US MAKE A JOKE ABOUT HOW BATMAN'S PARENTS ARE DEAD AND ABOUT KYLE'S FRIDGE.

The worst thing, I think, is when writers try to address this in-canon. It just gets weird and embarrassing. It's kind of like how James Robinson tries to address what pig-headed and stubborn JLA fans think of the new JLA before they even get a chance to prove themselves, with having them constantly comment on how it's "weird" that they are the JLA and how they have to prove they are not C listers and stuff. IT JUST IS EMBARRASSING AND IT DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT IN THE STORY 8( that is how I feel when they have Donna mention her various roles in life and how confusing her life is, or when they have Diana ask who she is or what her mission is.

And yes, they do a lot of telling and not showing with Diana's bonds -- outside of her bonds with Bats and Supes. Let us not forget that Donna also has been treated like poopie by Hippolyta more than once, so I don't even know why she'd feel close to the amazons ... particularly because she was raised with them, yes, but left them at an early age -- far earlier than when Diana left them.

AHAHAHAHH X) I love Starfire's ass more than anyone, but ... time and place, yeah. And I just want the Buddy/Kory thing retconned out already ew.

[sweettart1823]

When Robinson does that, about the new JLA saying how strange it is and everything it makes me feel like he doesn't have any confidence in them either and that makes me sad :/ And Donna does seem to talk about that a lot, her and all her origins, and I guess maybe it could be chalked up to her wanting to talk about it, and being open about things. But when it happens it just feels wrong. I don't know.

I always kind of think Donna could have either bonded with the Amazons, or went off and bonded with the Titans. I don't know why those two things are mutually exclusive in my mind. Maybe it's because the Amazons are sisters, and the Titans are a family and they both have that vibe in two different ways. I don't know, but that's always what I figured, it's weird. But Donna chose the Titans, which I'm definitely not complaining about, of course.

[cuntfucius]

After the way Hippolyta treated her in Jimenez' run, and how she didn't really give a crap about Donna's son dying and didn't really react to Donna's death, I actually wish Donna would give her the finger.

[cuntfucius]

AND NOT THE FINGER I WANT HER TO GIVE STARFIRE OR JADE

[cuntfucius]

AHHH :D and I am glad I am not the only one who has high hopes for Krul's writing with Cassie. THAT ALSO MEANS THAT IF IT SUCKS I WILL NOT BE THE ONLY ONE WHO FEELS TRICKED AFTER.

[cuntfucius]

Also, EW @ the Buddy story and what it did to Starfire. Eff that entire storyline and eff super powered women in comics constantly being held down in sexually compromising positions while men talk about wanting to "do stuff" to them.

And TOTALLY DISAGREE >[ DONNA'S HAIR SHOULD SPARKLE FOREVER. Why give her that ugly-ass sparkle suit if she's not going to SPARKLE with it? When she's got that celestial, otherworldly appearance where she's just SHINING then it makes sense for her to be wearing something that looks so ... well, tacky. But when her hair is just normal then it just looks like she's not even starfield-y, and is, in fact, just wearing a tacky outfit with sequins.

[sweettart1823]

He needs to forever and always stay away from Kory now. Seriously...

Listen I LIKE the sparkly hair, I do. But it's not supposed to be sparkly anymore that's all I'm saying. I mean how would she has sparkly hair, she had it when she was a goddess, ok, but now? I guess it could have just never went away, or she has super special shampoo or something... And anyway, people make the jokes about her looking like she has bad dandruff, which granted it doesn't look like that Here, but still... D:

[cuntfucius]

I figured it's just that artists started inconsistently drawing it (she had sparkly hair all up to the Infinite Crisis tie ins, and a bit after (like in Countdown), but then in her own series in the Titans didn't ... ). I like to think of it as, yes, sparkly dandruff. B( But I suppose I just like the idea of Donna being more... idk, NOT-MORTAL. She's had so many retcons that take away her soul's mortality and it was a good idea to stick with her being some multiverse transformer bot combination but IDK, they have not mentioned her goddess stint at all outside of the Terrible Return of Donna Troy (pretty but terrible) so is that even canon anymore? GOD IT SUCKS BEING A DONNA FAN WHY DO WE DO THIS TO OURSELVES

[sweettart1823]

xD Sparkly dandruff, I don't know why that's so funny to me but I'm picturing all these things that happen with dandruff, but with sparkles. That'd actually be awesome it's like she sheds sparkles....

Wait that's not canon anymore? Or has it just not been mentioned ever? I mean she has a lot of pasts they can't mention everything... Aw. I don't know I guess I'm actually not really that bothered by that. Everything changes so much with her I can't ever keep up -_- Well I do this to myself because I'm a horrible person and I like to punish myself in creative ways, being a Donna (and Cassie) fan is just one of those ways. I don't know about you. :)

[cuntfucius]

I think it's canon? It just hasn't been mentioned. the return of donna troy has been, without a doubt, the most confusing Donna Troy story ever. The other ones were never very confusing in isolated context, and were only confusing when you tried to streamline it with her other stories. But that story altogether was just freakin' weird and overly complicated. But it was so so pretty. And I liked the idea of tying her back to the Titans of Myth!!! I wish Coeus, her husband, showed up randomly and tried to court her again. "DONNA BABY I MISSED OUR TIME TOGETHER WHEN YOU WERE BRAINWASHED, PLEASE COME BACK TO ME"

Donna: /friendzones

[sweettart1823]

I think I just consider everything canon until it's specifically stated that it's not, and this hardly happens so you can imagine how that goes in my own head.

Donna's friendzone has to be like the most packed friendzone ever, with men. She doesn't friendzone the ladies. :]

[cuntfucius]

She does the opposite with ladies. She befriends them and slowly worms her way in >:]

[ebailey140]

Just hope JMS's changes to the timeline over in WW aren't permanent, because if they are...

We're back to "Who's this Donna Troy person?" with "Who's this Cassie person?" on top of it. Then there's Booster and company hunting down Max... "We must stop Max, now that he's back from the dead! Otherwise, he'll... Wait... How'd he die?"

[squirle]

Did we get an explanation yet of how Batman could be temporarally revived if he was really send back into time?

[sweettart1823]

It wasn't really batman, they just used that to mess with all their heads. I think, I know it wasn't really him but there could have been another reason... I didn't really read the whole of Blackest Night, just the ones I was interested in.

[darkblade]

It was more like "Random Dude in a Batman Costume of Earth. Rise"

[darkknightjrk]

The body they found was not Bruce's, but one of the clones that Darkseid was developing in Final Crisis, as shown in the Last Rites cross-over with Batman, and confirmed later on in the Blackest Knight arc in B&R.

[halloweenjack]

Dear Ed Benes:

Protip: That first panel, there? Where Cassie is starting her with-great-power speech? Not the best place for multiple ass-shots; it tends to undercut the mood. Look, I like that you make the purty ladies extra-purty, I'll even grant you the sparkleboob in the third panel, but come on.

Cordially,

Me

[darkknightjrk]

I think it's Starfire's ass just randomly RIGHT THERE that does it for me. The rest of them, while perhaps a touch gratuitous, at least made sense for the scene.

[sweettart1823]

Trust me Starfire's ass gets like practically a whole page to itself at one point. This isn't the worst of it.

[ravenous_raven]

Cassie, why do you look cheerful when you start talking about fallen Titans? And then look sad for a panel? And then apathetic?

[sweettart1823]

Then bored, she looks bored in that last panel...

[ravenous_raven]

And then only earnest at best when she tells Donna, "We're not going to kill you." Maybe Benes was trying for a compassionate or kind look there?

[frostedone]

I really like this pencil-y art style. It has the same look to it that the early Titans issues had.

[pyrotwilight]

Sorry to bring this up but the story itself was only 10 pages so you'd have to trim it a bit to fit the 1/3 of a story rule.