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Thanks for the info! I guess the only information I had on the comic versions of those characters came from fan wikis (or just Wikipedia). That's why I was a little confused. There was a whole section on shipping for DG, and I felt like whoever wrote it made it unnecessarily complicated. Looking at it now, it seems like there's a competition over the length on the DG/Barbara and DG/Starfire sections. Ha ha, I guess you should just really never trust shipping info on a wiki (Narutopedia is a good example of that).
Oh yeah, I see the problem there. That's the unfortunate part; in matters of shipping, bias tends to show far more. I've met fans who would all but rewrite history with what they said happened in something.
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But anyways, I guess my main problem with shipping in those series is how it seems like some authors just seem to use the same characters, but decide to move in a different direction with whatever sort of romantic subplot the series is pushing. I understand it obviously, since sometimes romantic crap just seems awkward in series with heavy action, or the author has a different idea of what he/she wants of the character. I just think it makes it hard to be a consistent shipper of a pairing when factors like that are at play. For me anyway.
I understand. Actually, I don't think romantic stuff is really that out of place in action stories. Many great comics find a balance between action and the personal drama. Spider-Man, for example, earned his fame on the back of such a balance (any given issue was as much about him stuggling to balance his personal/professional/love life with his heroing).
You just take it a bit more casually with most characters, that's all. Stuff like BBxRae are pretty ingrained into their characters and history now, but with a character like Batman, he's going to have numerous interesting love interests. I mean, why would you want him to settle down with one when you get different stories, reactions or history with each one? See: Zatanna, Catwoman, Talia Al Ghul, Vicky Vale, Silver St. Cloud and so on.
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And BB/Raven? I guess I never really thought about them together, but that's probably because the cartoon version didn't really touch on that. Or maybe it did, I haven't watched it in forever.
I thought there were quite a few episodes that had numerous "moments", but it wasn't made canon or anything, no.
They only became canon in the comic books.
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But yeah, I've read how he often served as an anti-hero in the comics. I think I'd enjoy that version of him. Other than the Trigon trilogy, the cartoon version of him was pretty much a baddie the whole series.
That was what rubbed me the wrong way about cartoon Slade. He was pretty much a straight up terrorist bad guy. Which didn't make a lot of sense to me, since there were several storylines involving him that they could have drawn from to give him some depth.
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Interesting, thanks for the info. I guess Beast Wars/Machines was what got me into it, but I recall watching several anime (or Western anime-ish series, it's hard to tell sometimes) adaptations of it after that.
I was a kid when G1 was around. Loved it. Beast Wars was great too. Code of Hero in particular always stuck with me.
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Now as for AU comics, I think you're right in that it probably does have an appeal if it's made apparent that the story is going to be AU beforehand. It's probably just one of those things you actually have to read the comics to understand.
Exactly. There's quite a bit of appeal. For example...
Two of the better known and most popular alternate universe stories are Gotham by Gaslight and the Batman Vampire trilogy. The first one - Gotham by Gaslight - was a take on Batman set in the 1800s, where he took on Jack the Ripper while trying to deflect the suspicion that he IS JtR due to his odd behavior (you know, the disappearing, mysteriousness and so on associated with Batman). The other is a universe where Batman fights Dracula; he ends up bitten, tries to continue fighting crime while fighting the urges, so on, so forth.
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I might have to take you up on that offer.
I'm generally around, so feel free. Even if I don't pop up for a week or two, I always come check up.
I could point you in the direction of some good starting points for what you might want to read.
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I know we used to have a Comic Book Thread on this site (I saw it during my lurking days), but it might be closed by now.
Yeah, I started that one. I was the only one who really posted. I kind of dropped off for about a month or so and when I came back I kind of forgot about it. I may have to revive it at some point, if just for shiggles.
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There are a lot of western comics I'd like to start on, but I'm always turned away by the sheer volume of the ones I'm interested in. It's the same reason I can't get myself to start reading/watching One Piece.
Well, the big difference between most Japanese manga and American comics is accessibility. You see quite a few folks say "oh they're practically inpenetrable" when it comes to American comics but that's not necessarily true. There is absolutely continuity - and sometimes you may not get some references to an earlier story if they are made - but quite a few books also tell their own story. I think some folks believe that to get into comics, you need to read up on a massive amount of backstory, but really you just pick up quick.
At some point it feels like people stopped rolling with the punches and want every little thing explained; which is weird to me, because I've been turned on to TV shows three seasons in with complex character relationships and picked up quickly, got on board and just checked out the earlier stuff later.