• ideonek@piefed.social
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    2 days ago

    Fair. And I believe this absurd was addressed in universe multiple time. Often with him losing the money in a process. But yes, it’s one of the unfortunate consequence of our shift in how we see billionaires. Batman is the richest and smartest person in the world who care only about one city… with it’s underfunded mental asylum looking like a hose of horror.

    The irony is clear. They have a better way of fixing the system than fists and arrow. They are the system.

    The lean batman and lean GA are the only one that make sense. But they need to be part of the Justice League with immortal gods. So they need the 9th metal mech and killer ray space stations… which cost money.

    But saying GL is not an environmentalist is like saying that Batman don’t care about Gotham. (Even if they have a stupid way of organizing their priorities.)

    • Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com
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      2 days ago

      I think so and agree with you.

      I’ll add that I think Ollie gets a better treatment with it than Bruce, and Marvel’s Tony who is a bit of a dick, do. (Pym and Incredible both manage to keep inventing game-changing things that never change the order or structure of society or economics, which is relayed to where I’m gonna go but also different in some ways).

      I haven’t read a lot of Green Arrow, but have enjoyed what I have.

      I do remember reading one story that began with Ollie volunteering in Africa working on water infrastructure (not sure if he was also funding things). He takes actions allowed within the confines of the editorial line to fit the views his character espouses.

      But to keep relatablity any never ending story, i.e. the soap opera for boys of serialised comics, will tend towards the status quo of our real world. They can’t show us a better way to live, as how we live needs to be the normal and mostly ideal. So Genosha must fall, Metropolis must be a normalish city, and Gotham remains close to a platonic ideal of the upper-middle class’s view of crime infested 80s New York. (Not the original, but seems to have shifted to it from the gangstery 1950s it once was in pre-modern Batman).

      Edit: I think this is also actually in part what has led me to become more a fan of Superman as I get older.

      • ideonek@piefed.social
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        18 hours ago

        I couldn’t agree more. But I could live with the status quo of the environment, I think it could be done well… IF you are willing to let your characters change. But they insist on Batman that needs to stay broken even when he overcomes all his obstacles. He’s a fantasy of a perfect man, right? He should be self-aware and smart enough to start therapy by now. He already raised a family of heros, and which one of them surpass him in some way… the only reasonable place for him to be is retirement. But as long as batman toys and movies are selling better than Nigtwing’s no one will pull the trigger. At least not permanently.

        I also moved to Superman - unfortunately I’m taking a brake on US culture until the president is in the office. But I can’t wait to pick up where I left. Superman resonates so much more with me now.

        I’m in a small minority that loved Superman revealing that he’s Clark Kent to the word. It’s consistent with his “truth” value, it opens to discussions ethics of having “all hearing” reporter who reports on things he’s part of… it created fresh type of conflicts. And I loved his son, as a Superman who ask himself “should I be doing more and what more even mean”… I loved the House of El and the Superman’s legacy…

        You can disagree and it’s fine. The point is, we deserve stories that are more than retelling the same one over and over again.

        We could have the metropolis that is normalized with heros who address modern problems that became “norm” to readers. I want to know

        But they will not play the long game, when the short term profits are on the line. Status Quo strikes again.