Getting back to the Batverse (because really, Marvel? Ehh. I'm only in it for Joss) I'm getting incredibly irritated at the way they're characterizing Steph. (Spoiler Steph. Not Teppy Steph.) The big reveal in this weeks Catwoman on top of the circs that led to her getting fired as Robin -- it seems like her whole character/MO lately is "I want to prove myself to Batman so I'm going to fuck things up tremendously". Am I nuts, or is this 1) the same plot as last month, just with more dead bodies; 2) a rehash of Tim's "I'm going to make Batman know he needs me" thang, only rewritten as pathetic and needy and lame; 3) kinda condescending; AND 4) just plain fucking irritating all around.

Has she always been written this way? I'll admit I only started paying attention to the character with the Robin run.

In Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Steph kept being annoying, and Batgirl kept knocking her out. That was fun.

If it's a shift in characterisation, amych, I think it started before I got on board. She's seemed awfully approval-seeking in the few months I've been reading her. But I do remember Plei complaining about the bad writing on the Robin title, so I don't know how purposeful that was.

Read Astonishing. I'm totally with the woo-hoo, Colussus! crowd. And of course I look forward to seeing what Joss does with he and Kitty. I was going to ask how he "died" and was happy to see my question already answered. I stopped my recent classic X-Men reading with the early 90's issues when they split the team up into to separate books (well, 3 if you count Excalibur.) but the big metal lug and Kitty were two of my favorites from that era. (Though I liked Wolvie, Rogue and Gambit too.)

That was fun.

Yep, sure was.

The version of Colossus in Ultimate is very different from the main universe -- probably moreso than anyone else. He was very idealistic and sweet and innocent, which is probably why he worked so well with the much younger (well, 5 years, but she was pretty damned young) Kitty. In Ultimate he's quite the hardened brute by comparison. The effect of not having gotten out of the country earlier, perhaps.

Hmm. I feel like Steph's characterization (though not mine, because if a DC writer were to write me, I'd want it to be Devin Grayson) has been nothing more than a plot device lately. I've read the early Robin titles that she's in as Spoiler (like Robin: Flying Solo), and I really like her in those. So my assumption is that *something* was needed to kick off War Games, and Steph ended up being the most expendable.

SA and I were listing characters we thought would be dead by the end of War Games/Identity Crisis, and came up with (tell me if I should whitefont, but these are NOT spoilers; pure speculation):

Tim's Dad
Tarantula (pleasepleaseplease)
Steph
and I'm also going with Darla, though she doesn't really mean all that much to the storyline, except inasmuch as her death will serve to make Timmay that much more nuts

She had pretty much the same reaction that I did at the Batman panel.

I, uh, may have growled happily at that panel. I loved Batman's confidence that Tim would have all the recon they'd need like a good soldier. Also loved Nightwing's protest that Tim might not because nobody's perfect -- boy's STILL freaking about how Bruce will react when he finds out about Blockbuster. And then Nightwing brushes off Tim as Timmy's putting the puzzle pieces together. And Batman following the trail of bodies to the infirmary! Oh, Tim, how I adore thee when you let your vigilante hair down instead of trying to act like a normal boy.

I still haven't seen a new issue of Outsiders. And I forgot to buy Catwoman.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I'm feeling, Tep -- I never really loved her before, but there's definitely been a shift. The pathological and dangerous attention-seeking seems to have replaced a character that I used to think was at worst sometimes fine and sometimes annoying. Hrrmph. And, agreed on "expendable" -- but I called that one as soon as they leaked the Robin casting. I just wish it weren't so obvious (and so literal).

I still haven't seen a new issue of Outsiders.

Oh, yeah. DAMN ALL OF YOU! When SA was in Seattle, she ganked the current run of Outsiders from Plei, and then put them on a CD for me (among many many many other titles). I read Outsiders 1-4 last night.

DAMN YOU ALL! Now I have another title to buy.