SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE #6: RECS!

[queenslayerbee]

In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. . Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

A while ago I started doing posts with a few recs that got sidetracked when I stopped using this journal for a little while, so I thought I'd do one of those!

• ONE SHOW: yesterday I decided to watch a few episodes from the first season of "Batman: The Animated Series" and was once again overtaken by how much I love that show. I haven't really watched the other seasons, but from what I've seen new adventures didn't quite land that... baby's first gothic vibe season one had going on. Season one though? Superb. The Cat and the Claw and the first meeting between Bruce-Batman and Selina-Catwoman, the utter heartbreak in Heart of Ice, the melancholy It's Never Too Late, the tragic bent in On Leather Wings and ESPECIALLY Feet of Clay, the catharsis in Joker's Favor... this show had hit after hit after hit.
• ONE FILM: "The Lion in Winter". If you enjoy a good story about an immensely fucked up royal family, this one is my favourite of all time. No character leaves you indifferent. And although we're already halfway through January, I love to watch it in winter. Really gets me in the spirit of the holidays!
• ONE COMIC: I recently read "Nightwing/Huntress" (written by the infamous Devin Grayson, whose writing I'm just getting familiar with). Loved it. It's a take on Dick not everyone will enjoy, but I dig it, and the dynamic it presents between the characters is fascinating. Also, it's only four issues long, the art is gorgeous, and Helena should always wear that version of the suit.
• ONE BOOK: "The Sanguine Sorceress" by Camilla Andrew. I don't get tired of recommending this book and this author, someone who I consider both a friend and a remarkable artist. I love a good tale of revenge starting an imperfect victim, with opulent descriptive prose and a detailed fantasy worldbuilding, and this novelette has it all. The paperback edition (still available for purchase) finally arrived in the mail, and it has gooooorgeous illustrations (ETA: forgot to add credit to the artist, Rachel Bostick). If it sounds like it could be the story for you, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Comments

[sparrow2000]

Four for the price of one, I love it! I don't know the other fandoms/canon, but a good rec is worth its weight in gold. And god, The Lion in Winter - Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn are the business. I haven't seen it in years but reading your piece makes me want to seek it out again so thank you for doing that! :)

[queenslayerbee]

O'Toole and Hepburn were a perfect match for this film. I only watched the film a few years ago (though it'd been on my radar for longer), and I've rewatched it every christmas For Reasons -alongside Batman Returns, my other favourite christmas film lol.

[freevistas]

this makes me want to re-visit batman: the animated series. i've never re-watched it as an adult!

[queenslayerbee]

I've made a couple of attempts but never followed through. Especially because I'd like to watch the dcau in the order it aired and every site orders BTAS' episodes wrong. It's very frustrating xDD

I get it was a pretty episodic show so you *can* watch them out of order (and even if you watch them in their airing order, there's some back and forth, chronologically), but I'm a stickler for this sort of thing AND I think "The Cat and the Claw pt. 1" SHOULD be the first episode to watch :P

[linky]

Batman TAS is so good! Its been a while since I've seen some episodes but it's truly something special and wonderfully made.

[queenslayerbee]

It really is! I've liked all the dcau shows/movies (that I have watched), but BTAS has a special place in my heart. Although the first show I watched (first dc anything I watched, actually) was Batman Beyond which. Sure made for an interesting introduction into the dcu lol.

[snowynight]

The art of The Sanguine Sorceress is so pretty!

Thanks for the recs. You have great taste.

[queenslayerbee]

This message made me realise I forgot to add a link to the artist, Rachel Bostick *facepalms*. So thank you for that!

[snowynight]

Her style is lovely! Thanks for the link!

[silveradept]

Kevin Conroy does such a great job with Batman in that series, and the entire thing is a giant visual treat. It's what I think of when "art deco" is in my head, especially all of the gorgeous decorations on the buildings, and the way the characters are drawn and animated.

[queenslayerbee]

You can tell there's a lot of effort and love poured into the show, and it really comes through in the visuals in particular (another reason why I prefer this to the New Adventures era, btw. BTAS was just more ~distinctive).

[silveradept]

It was also visually distinct compared to everything else in animation at the time. It made a big contrast with Batman '66 and seemed very interested in telling human stories of both the hero and the villains, even with the very inhuman rogues' gallery selected for the series. (Joker by proxy, through Harley.) It spent a lot of time on motivation, and the artists were up to the challenge.

[queenslayerbee]

That's related to one of the things that I think really works for this show, and it's the smaller, much more personal scope of its plots, iykwim. There are some "arcs", so to speak -you see Harvey as a D.A., then evolve into Two-Face; Selina gets caught and goes to trial, etc.-, but the episodic plots are up close and personal, grounded in the moment and character-driven. I personally think that works well with this show in particular and arguably with Batman canon in general.

[silveradept]

It does. There's an episode I remember specifically of a character who becomes a villain because his boss, Bruce Wayne, advised him to vary his routine, but in doing so, he had an accident and lost the work he had been meticulously putting together, so he wanted revenge against the man who ruined him because of an accident. The story plotted it out so that we could see it was a tragic accident borne of something innocent, and how easily it could be trusted into a desire for revenge. BTAS really took time to showcase that these villains were not doing what they were doing for the evulz, but for understandable reasons that put them outside the law and in conflict with Batman. (Joker kind of exempted, but again, Harley does her best to humanize him to Batman and the audience.)

[queenslayerbee]

I watched that episode recently! It's The Clock King, although it wasn't Bruce who gave him that advice, but the mayor (whose name I can't remember rn for the life of me lol). And yes, the episode works really well and showcases those situations.

[silveradept]

Oops. Memory not as good as it could be, clearly. But there's so much of that level of storytelling, rather than "grandiose villain plan, boring invincible superhero, occasional lower decks episode."

[queenslayerbee]

Agreed! And as I said, I think this type of storytelling fits Gotham's lore better, tbh.

(spoken as someone tired of hearing about the next AMAZING ARC THAT'LL LEAVE YOU ASTONISHED, the next A VILLAIN LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE, and especially the next BIG CROSSOVER EVENT THAT'LL CHANGE OUR HEROES FOREVER every time I read a comic's synopsis lol. There are room for grandiose storylines and I am very much up for those when it's their place but a.) they can be exhausting if overused and b.) I insist that Batman works better as a, for the most part, small scope superhero).

[silveradept]

Batman really does, yes. Or it does really well when it's clearly making fun of those kinds of superlatives, in the way that Batman '66 did and does. The more Batman stays in Gotham, the better things go.