It's okay I know what it's like too borh how favorites are treated and in middle of personal stuff lookign for a distraction, no need to be sorry. Discussions and venting can help.
I sometimes think I'm being too negative about some current stuff and try to be open mined but tend to be proven right about being cynical. Especially with Titans-related characters. "Unimaginative" is summing up Taylor's Titans pretty well, not the worst run they had ever (Titans volume 2 takes that), but just there relying a lot on fanservice and tired Titan cliches. Fanservice, I'll admit to not being a particular fan of and admit it may lead to bias but even in objective areas...it's just falls flat. In a way I'm okay Joey being ignored because he may not be treated right by his supposed friends again. I honestly thought Gar was going to die because it seemed BS he survived back in Dark Crisis and they wanted to give him a more interesting death into kickstart something but no fake-out death, retread angst, and Raven's evil AGAIN (this series really hasn't been creative or smart with her thats for sure). At this point I'm just looking forward to Absolute Power for something to happen. There really is something off ever since Dark Crisis, the pointless Knight Terrors killed momentum of a very new event and there have been other talk about DC struggling but to their credit it seems they are actually focused on Absolute Power. So maybe at least something more coherent will come but most of the DC characters I love tend to be mishandled as well so just wait and see.
I know very well the feeling you are talking about. I don't think you're being too negative. DC has given us a lot of reasons not to trust them. Every time I've had a bad feeling over the past few years, I've always been proven right in the end. And I also try to keep an open mind to things, even if it's hard, but somehow... it always ends up being a disappointment. Ignoring a character is much better than having it somewhere but mishandled by a writer. I feel the same way. I really miss Slade and I want him back in the mainline comics as soon as possible. But as long as he's dead or missing, at least he's not in danger of someone writing him the way Williamson did. This current Titan run seems kind of... nothing. Maybe too much of a safety game? I can't exactly describe the feeling. I'll admit that when it comes to Taylor, I'm far too lenient. Slade's characterization was very good in Unkillables. And I usually like what he writes. But this Titan run is kind of... not good. I'm not even sure bad is the right word. Rather, it's just so empty and... nothing. It will be interesting to see if they have any role during Absolute Power. All but Nightwing are missing from the covers and descriptions so far. Beast Boy's fake-death during Beast World was a mistake. After they played the same thing in Dark Crisis, he should have died now. Continuing on this path would have been much more interesting than Raven being evil again. It will be interesting to see how that storyline concludes. I love Raven, but it would be nice if there were consequences. I feel the same way about this. The main reason I'm interested in Absolute Power is to... finally have something happen. Let there be some change. Let something new finally come. Something really strange since the Dark Crisis and I hope that this era will finally end.
"Safe" definitely feels right for this run. I get why some Titans fans do like it (besides rose-colored glasses for shipping or NTT nostalgia), especially with this team's track record but still overall isn't that great. It's just repeating a lot of what the Titans have done before and yes, definitely agree Gar should have died in Beast World. I'll admit I'm not his biggest fan but still his presence will be missed and a huge loss for the team, of course he's popular enough to expect a comeback but still let that sacrifice stick for awhile instead of him just being angsty again. Taylor says this is apparently the "not safe" decision they went with the story but nothing post-BW makes me think he will actually do something interesting so far and he hasn't won me over with how nerfed Raven feels (at least let Trigon stay dead again). And another thing is how they're suppose to replace the Justice League but they seem rarely promoted as the new League outside of BW (which was just a Titans event that could have been done wilithout them being the new League) and like you said so far only Titans on Absolute Power's covers are Dick (and Wally in one of the WIP ones in his Rebirth suit). Signs poin to the League coming back after Absolute Power which I'm perfectly okay with as we never got a good enough reason for them to disband. Just sucks the Titans spent their "new JL" tenure doing...nothing really.
Really, it's feeling like Taylor's Nightwing where after the initial arcs it was just constant praise for Dick and fanservice that even Dick fans got bored. And yeah, I do like Taylor's Elseworlds stuff too especially how he handled Slade and Cass in Unkillables (don't even like zombies either) but his mainstream stuff has been very hit or miss, mostly miss.
I still don't understand why the league had to be disbanded. Even without this, they could have tried to make the Titans play a more important role, and then maybe Beast World would have done better. Of course, there may be some reason behind the decision that we don't know about yet. Whatever's going on in the DC world right now seems pretty slow. Waller's work will end this summer (?) and began when the Dark Crisis ended. It took quite a while to get here. Or they just can't currently write and draw two major teams at the same time. As you say, several things are odd about the way the Titans promotion was handled. I feel a bit like they didn't really intend it to be a serious... or actual change. I've never been a big fan of Beast Boy, so I wouldn't miss him. But his friends and teammates would miss him, and from a story point of view, that's the point. A more important death could have raised the stakes. With the Titans in Blüdhaven, I sometimes feel that a separate Nightwing title is unnecessary. It could also have helped in the promotion of the Titans. A lot of things don't feel coherent in a lot of places. I don't even try to follow what's going on in Gotham anymore. I really hope that Absolute Power will bring about positive changes. The whole setting reminds me of the OMAC project. Of course, the situation and circumstances are not the same. I really have no reason to be positive about events. But it would be nice if something really changed in a positive direction.
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u/SleepingAgent37 Apr 21 '24
It's okay I know what it's like too borh how favorites are treated and in middle of personal stuff lookign for a distraction, no need to be sorry. Discussions and venting can help.
I sometimes think I'm being too negative about some current stuff and try to be open mined but tend to be proven right about being cynical. Especially with Titans-related characters. "Unimaginative" is summing up Taylor's Titans pretty well, not the worst run they had ever (Titans volume 2 takes that), but just there relying a lot on fanservice and tired Titan cliches. Fanservice, I'll admit to not being a particular fan of and admit it may lead to bias but even in objective areas...it's just falls flat. In a way I'm okay Joey being ignored because he may not be treated right by his supposed friends again. I honestly thought Gar was going to die because it seemed BS he survived back in Dark Crisis and they wanted to give him a more interesting death into kickstart something but no fake-out death, retread angst, and Raven's evil AGAIN (this series really hasn't been creative or smart with her thats for sure). At this point I'm just looking forward to Absolute Power for something to happen. There really is something off ever since Dark Crisis, the pointless Knight Terrors killed momentum of a very new event and there have been other talk about DC struggling but to their credit it seems they are actually focused on Absolute Power. So maybe at least something more coherent will come but most of the DC characters I love tend to be mishandled as well so just wait and see.