I really wanted to post more in 2025, but I just didn’t have time. I started at a new job that absolutely DESTROYED my free time. I essentially had time to work on my podcast (Adult Siblings Versus …which you can listen to HERE) and that’s it. But I am still managing to get this Top Ten list on the anniversary of this blog, and I still plan on putting out my annual Black Superhero Month posts next month.
For today we’ll focus on my top ten favorite movies of 2025. As always, these are my FAVORITE films, not necessarily the objectively best films. Also, as always, there were plenty of films I was unable to get around to watching things like Marty Supreme or One Battle After Another. While I tried to watch Frankenstein, I have never seen a movie that needed to be viewed on a big screen rather a TV more and I couldn’t maintain interested solely based on that.
I did watch Elio with my son last year, however, which is the most recent Pixar film. I want to take a moment to mention how much I liked it (he liked it too) and how wrong the modern idea that Pixar movies just not being good anymore is. It JUST barely didn’t make the list. Blame Benoit Blanc for that one.
I’ve been away from the blogging space, and most of that is because, well, 2024 was a garbage year. I dealt with medical issues all year long, my wife and I bought a new house and a lot of things went wrong when we did, and worst of all my father passed away (well, worst of all is actually that American re-elected Biff Tannen despite him being a convicted felon, but I digress).
But today is the 15 year anniversary of Beta is Dead so it would be good to post something. Plus next month is still Black Superheroes Month, so getting back into the grove of writing is necessary.
2024 wasn’t my favorite year for movies and I actually struggled to write a Favorite Movie list this year. Shoutout to The Bikeriders, which didn’t quite make the cut, and also Drive-Away Dolls which I had been looking for to for months and months but ended up being delayed into 2024…and it was just okay, sadly. Also Lisa Frankenstein, which I wanted to love, but just didn't have what I needed in a film (even though the two leads were great)
Today marks fourteen years since my first bog post on Beta
is Dead. As has been the custom, I will celebrate by sharing my To Ten Movie
list of the past year, in this case 2023.
As usual, take in mind that this is my personal list of favorite
movies, not an objective “Top Films of the Year” list, since I didn’t watch
every single movie. This is just my personal opinion and, frankly, I’d be interested
to hear your favorite movies of the year in the comment section.
Some quick notes about some honorable mentions: I really enjoyed
The Marvels and Blue Beetle (especially Blue Beetle) but neither appears on the
list because there were just way too many better flicks this year. I still want
to make a special note that they were both good and should have done better at
the Box Office. Also, Barbie just barely got edged off of the list, and I
struggled with this quite a bit. I think it was great, and on any other year it
would have made it on here easily. However don’t be surprised if you see the
other half of Barbenheimer shortly.
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Let’s see
if I remember how it goes.
Because I’m not going to the movies as much as I used to
(partly due to new fatherhood and partly due to the pandemic that is still
happening goddamnit) I wasn’t able to see a ton of movies in 2022, and a lot of
the ones on this list I ended up catching on streaming or renting them. It’s
all very deflating. So, there were loads of good movies I didn’t get to see that
probably would have made the list if I had. No point in getting all mad at me.
Also note that that this is not a “Best of 2022” list but
rather a “My Favorites of 2022” list, meaning it’s just one dude giving his opinion.
Feel free to share your favorite movies in the comments.
Quick note: while they did not make the list, I’d still like to
make special mention of Downton Abbey: A New Era, as of writing the final installment
of the British TV/movie series that my wife and started watching at the beginning
of 2022, and Do Revenge, which was a fun but flawed dark teen comedy. I think Maya
Hawke has the tools to be a pretty big deal in Hollywood.
Ten years ago today I started blogging after being inspired by the work of Rob Bricken on the website Topless Robot. The blog began partially as a companion piece to the Saturday Morning Cartoon Show on WDIR and partially to force me to write regularly in order to increase my confidence. While things hadn’t gone quite to plan, and my ability to maintain regular post articles is poor at best, I think it’s still worth celebrating the milestone.
Honestly I’m unsure I have it in me to keep the blog going in any meaningful way at this point in my life but, since 2020 is the ten year anniversary of me starting it, I figure I should try to do my best to put out the many articles I wanted to write but never found time to do it. After that…who knows? But first, as per tradition, I’ll do my annual Top Ten Favorite Movie List. As always, this is a subjective list that represents the flicks I liked the best, not necessarily the best made. Also, as with last year, I’ll throw up some Panda Reviews scores as well. But before we get into it, I thought it’d be fun to take a quick look at all the films that topped all previous Favorite Lists. 2010: Scott Pilgrim vs. The Word 2011: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2012: Moonsrise Kingdom 2013: The Wolf of Wall Street 2014: The Lego Movie 2015: The Martian 2016: 10 Cloverfield Lane 2017: Get Out 2018: Black Panther My favorite movies after the jump.
I realize that it’s been basically a whole year since my last post, which is bad. In the unlikely event that any of my original readership happen to see this, I sympathize with the radio silence. Here’s the thing; today is the ninth anniversary of the first post I ever made and I figured I might as well throw up my annual Top Ten Favorite Movies list. However, one year from now is the damn ten-year anniversary, which is both hilarious and terrifying. It does seem like I should do something for a milestone that big, but also it feels like it would be very lame to do something for it without having touched the site in years and that there should be content leading up to it. So…food for thought?
Anyway, I somehow managed to watch a decent number of movies this year despite having one of the strangest and most life changing eighteen months of my life. But, as always, I managed to miss several key films over the course of the year, Bad Times at the El Royale being a particularly annoying omission. So if you’re favorite film isn’t on the list then that may be why. Also, this is a subjective list of my personal FAVORITE films, not necessarily the objectively best movies of the year. You may disagree with the list; that’s okay. Your opinion is valid. We’re all friends here. Feel free to post your own list in the comments. Something a little different this year; I’m going to throw up some Panda Scores as well. For old times sake. Before I get into the list, let me shout out a few movies that didn’t quite make the list but that I want to give a little love to. First of all, Avengers: Infinity Wars was actually on the original version of this list but was bumped off at the last minute. Still a great movie, especially if you think of Thanos as being the protagonist. Game Night ended up being a better than it had any right to be and is a comedy that worked on just about every level. The Wife features a killer performance from Glenn Close that may well earn her a well deserved Oscar. And finally, Deadpool 2 in many ways felt like a more complete movie then its predecessor and continues to show that Ryan Reynolds is one of the best actors bringing a comic book superhero to life today. Too bad about its Women in Refrigerators moment.
Sorry, Captain America. Maybe next year... (Also, I don't feel so good)
Despite a severe lack of updates I’ve somehow made it to Beta is Dead’s fifth anniversary. BALLOONS!!!
Balloons make everything better
It seems I’m still kicking, despite all appearances to the contrary. A year ago I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue with this blog since there’s so little reward in it. By mid-2014 I was actually feeling significantly better about the blog but I was hampered by some personal issues (and, no, you don’t get to know what those issues were, you nosey so-and-so) which led me to working on my novel rather than writing about movies or cartoons or whatever is it is I normally do. Almost immediately after I finished the first draft and was ready to get back to reviewing things I got a new job that not only ate up all my time but made me not really want to touch a computer after work (eight hours staring at computer screens will do that to you). So in a real way 2014 was probably the worst year in this blog’s history.
But there’s no use in feeling down about it. Instead on dwelling on a lousy year it’s best to plan for the next one and that’s what I aim to do! (I actually had a pretty good year, just not for this blog)
So for 2015 I foresee myself being busy enough that regular updates will not be in the cards. I’d always had the pipe dream of a MWF schedule but I don’t think that’s likely to happen, not unless I make enough money to justify it. I will try to post as often as I can. Expect an anniversary related blog sometime before the end of the month. I also promise I will do everything in my power to make sure there will be posts for Black Superhero Month.
Reviews may be a bit trickier but we’ll see. Traditional the first review of the year is a Mila Kunis film (not because I’m a big fan but because what else am I going to review, am I right?) but that may or may not be the case this year. Jupiter Ascending was delayed to an early February release so if I don’t review something before I see it then tradition will prevail.
A major thing I want to talk about is my book. I finished the first draft last September but since then I have not had the time to edit it that I would like, mainly due to my new job. In 2015 my number one goal is to begin (key word) the process of getting it published by December, even if that’s only shopping it around to agents who won’t return my e-mails (or whatever the first step is; I dunno, man). So I need to get this second draft done, then the third draft, then the fourth draft and then maybe a fifth draft depending on how I feel about it. I plan on this being my priority which means if I feel I have to choose between this blog and my book I will put Beta is Dead on an extended hiatus. If this happens I will likely say something on here.
Any way my hope is that 2015 will be a good year and that we’ll all be here for the sixth anniversary.
This is the same company that put out The Powerpuff Girls.
...the f**k happened?
Now that we’ve reach Beta is Dead’s Fourth Anniversary I think it’s time for a rant. Now normally I would write a comic book rant, probably something about Stephanie Brown or something like that, but instead I think I’ll talk about cartoons. And gender. There’s been a pretty big controversy going around the internet since late November that I’ve been aching to comment on but just haven’t had the time. Well the time is now. If you are unfamiliar with who Paul Dini is (shame on you, by the way) he is the co-creator along with Bruce Timm, of Batman: The Animated Series which is still today considered by a great many people to be the best cartoon ever made. Understand that Dini is a pretty big deal when it comes to children’s television. So anyway a while ago Dini appeared on film director/giant nerd Kevin Smith’s podcast “Fatman on Batman” to talk about Batman. Somewhere during the two part interview Smith goes on a rant about how much he loves the new cartoon Beware the Batman, which Dini has nothing to do with but Smith points out that when the show gets going it’s the only Batman show to match the level of depth of BM:TAS. Then Dini destroys Smith’s life by informing him that Cartoon Network had removed it from the schedule and would probably end up canceling it if it hasn’t been canceled already. And indeed the show was put on hiatus back in October and as of this writing it has yet to have a solid return date (they said January but January is almost over) and have offered up no explanation. But Dini has an idea of what the problem is. Now you can listen to the podcast yourself here (this stuff starts around 38 to 41 minutes in) but I will summarize: companies like Cartoon Network cancel or otherwise don’t renew deep, arc driven shows like Beware the Batman because they attract the wrong demographic; families and girls. But they only want certain shows to be watched by young boys. Let me repeat his: Cartoon Network has possibly self-sabotaged and canceled their shows because they attracted too large of a female audience. That is one of the most f**ked up things I’ve ever heard. More ranting, swearing, and screaming after the jump.
Another year hone and Beta is Dead is now four years old!
I can barely believe it myself; four years is a long time, especially for just writing about random stuff. Theoretically a kid may have started reading this blog in 2010 and now by 2014 could be a legal adult. That is how old this blog is. It’s weird to look back on the last four years and realize how different things are for me compared to back when I first started. I wish I could say that I’m still jazzed to be doing this blog but, as regular readers might have guessed, 2013 was very difficult for me on a personal level and the blog greatly suffered as a result. This is a hobby and a very time consuming one as well. It’s a lot of work with little reward and in fact the reward seems to get smaller every year. For the first time since I started this blog I feel like I may not have it in me to keep it going for the long haul. That said in the short term there’s nothing to worry about if you’re one of the increasingly small number of regular visitors and, who knows, perhaps when I do my annual Black Superhero Month in a few weeks I’ll feel a little better about things. Should I decide to call it quits with Beta is Dead I’m fairly sure I’ll be giving advanced warning. Enough doom and gloom. More anniversary stuff after the jump.
Beta is Dead is now three years old and to celebrate I thought I’d revisit an older topic. Recently one of my old articles was floating around tumblr and brought some eyeballs over to the blog. It’s certainly a hot topic and still pretty relevant even today but sadly it’s outdated. Similar its sister article, which isn’t as popular but still just as relevant I’d say, is also out of date due to the events of the past two years. So I figured now would be a pretty good time to pick up where I left off with two of my favorite superheroes, and former Batgirls, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. Now I feel I covered the details of who these two characters are very well in past articles (here and here) so if you don’t know who they are you can check those out. However if you’re too goddamn lazy here’s the short version of what I previously wrote: 1) Cassandra Cain, daughter of the amoral Lady Shiva, was a martial arts prodigy who was literally bred and raised to serve as the ultimate assassin and bodyguard for Ra’s Al Ghul by the League of Assassins. She rejected this and eventually joined Batman as the new Batgirl. After years of serving the role DC Comics decided to try turning her into a villain, becoming a murdering despot despite being totally against her character, but it backfired and resulted with a public backlash before turning her back to normal. Soon after this she abruptly quit being Batgirl, leaving the mantle in the hands of… 2) Stephanie Brown became the vigilante known as The Spoiler in order to rebel against her super villain father the Cluemaster. She became a frequent ally of Robin (Tim Drake) before a series a events led her to replacing him as Batman’s partner…only to quickly be fired from the role. DC then killed her off in a particularly controversial (and brutal) way while also denying that she was ever truly Robin. After a few years she was retconned back to life and soon afterwards took up the mantle of Batgirl from her friend Cassandra. Today I’d like to catch up with both characters and see where they are now and what can be done for them in the future. If you regularly read this blog you likely already know what became of them during The Great DC Reboot of 2011 and you may also know what I’m going to say. Everyone else may want to prepare themselves for good old fashion nerd rage.
Another year, another anniversary. It has been three years today since I started Beta is Dead! It now actually feels like I’ve legitimately done this for a long while and I have many great memories and benefits such as…such as…um…er…hmm. Anyway I’m glad I’ve mostly maintained a regular schedule this long since, when I started, I wasn’t certain I’d make it six months before getting bored and giving up. So really at this point it’s all gravy. Still as long as I still feel like writing about stuff I’ll keep doing Beta is Dead. More anniversary stuff after the jump.
Beta is Dead is two years old. It’s a goddamn anniversary!
Technically the anniversary was yesterday (I’m cheating with the date listed) but I’ve been so busy this week with my band’s CD release (Oh, I'll plug that in due time) that I haven’t had any time to get to a computer. But even so Beta is Dead has lasted another year. Thank you to everyone who has stuck it out with me the last twenty-four months.
Last year I made the New Year’s resolution that I’d do everything I could to make the blog better and I think I’ve mostly been able to do that. But things can always be better and I do feel I’ve neglected things recently.
So hey let’s look at some stats from the last year. The most visited page seems to have been my review of Gurren Lagaan, almost entirely based on people looking for sexy pictures of Yoko….which is pretty damn gross. My now obsolete blog about Cassandra Cain was the second highest, though one wonders if I need to do an update since things have changed for the character (Meh, she probably doesn’t even exists after the reboot). Weirdly the third most visited page was my write-up about Silverhawks. I find this odd since that blog wasn’t even written in 2011. I’m pretty sure this is the result of people looking for pictures through Google, but is this show really that popular? I’m regularly shocked at the number of hits this article gets.
Anyway I hope you’ve all enjoyed the last year’s worth of blogs. Don’t forget to spread the word and share with friends if you like what you’ve been reading. Hopefully this year will be even better and readership will continue to grow. Also feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonBetaMagnus, if that’s your thing. I don’t use it much but having followers makes me feel cool. Like “Sunglasses at Night” cool.
As per the last post I’ve decided to celebrate my One Year Anniversary by writing about my favorite subject: comic books. I debated exactly what topic I should touch on considering that I didn’t want to accidentally alienate anyone by becoming Angry Comic Nerd (Several essays were scrapped before this one, including the Fanboyish “Problems I have with Superhero Comics”). But then I remembered my article about Cassandra Cain and how I, at the time, was worried that some people might assume I had ill feelings towards Stephanie Brown. I love Stephanie Brown and my only issue with her lately was that she replaced Cassandra as Batgirl. It’s not because I didn’t want her in a high profile title like that I just wanted to live in a world where a monthly Batgirl title and a monthly Spoiler title co-existed. I also wasn’t in love with Stephanie’s book for the first few issues, but it seems like most everyone else agree that it’s actually very good. Maybe it picked up after I called it quits. In any case the fact is that no matter how much you or really any one may say differently in doesn’t change the fact that replacing an Asian character with a blonde white equivalent just has unfortunate implications.
But I never blamed Stephanie for it. Plus I was happy that she was getting attention, though after the debacle with her character a few years earlier she had tons of publicity. Yes, despite everything I talked about Cassandra Cain’s unceremonious exit and bizarre turn to villainy that was NOTHING compared to the utter insanity regarding the Death of Stephanie Brown. Oh she’s better now but good grief did DC Comics open Pandora’s Box when they wrote that story. Even today the wounds aren’t all healed but then again this is likely one of the company’s biggest blunders of the 2000s.
Before we talk about her death let’s talk about her life.
The Spoiler is the "Buffy Summers" of the Batman Family
Stephanie Brown aka The Spoiler (Which is actually how I think of her) first appeared in Detective Comics #647 in 1992, created by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle. Her origin is somewhat similar to Cassandra Cain’s in that her father was a super villain and much of her motivation involved balancing out his criminal activities (Also for kicks, because that’s how she rolls). She’s daughter of the Cluemaster, a fairly unremarkable Batman villain from the 60s with a similar modus operandi as the Riddler. After his most recent return home from prison Stephanie was distraught to lean that, despite supposed plans for going straight, her father had once again turned to crime though this time without the use of his trademark clues. Angered by this she began leaving clues herself in the hopes of “spoiling” her father’s plan thus becoming the Spoiler. She donned a costume and began trying to aide Batman and Robin (Tim Drake, the third Robin) though unlike fellow amateurs Kick-Ass and the original Bat-Woman and Bat-Girl she was actually kind of successful at being a superhero; or at least no one nearly beat her to death after a dangerously ill-advised act of vigilante justice…not yet, anyway. She eventually became a supporting cast member of the new Robin solo title where she and Tim began an uneasy friendship that evolved into a partnership that turned into a pretty long romance. This book was also one of the main factors in bringing me back into comics after I quit for bit so I have very fond memories of these two characters as a crime fighting duo/couple. Should DC ever hire me as a writer (Increasingly unlikely due to this cursed blog) I would likely try to bring that relationship back…also I will totally have Dick Grayson marry Barbra Gordon because…why the hell not? [2013 EDIT: I'm over that now. I see no point to it theses days]
Anyway during her stint as supporting cast member the Robin book got critical acclaim partly because of her teen pregnancy. Yes, years before Juno or MTV’s 16 and Pregnant Stephanie Brown had unknowingly been knocked up by a former boyfriend and the issue was heavily dealt with in the comic (Leading to the baby being put up for adoption). The point is that she was an important part of Robin’s success during its run in the 90s and she herself was gathering a larger fanbase myself included. So one would think that, as a crime fighter in Gotham with growing popularity, DC would bring her more into the fold of the Batman books where she would start being used as a larger character rather than a plot device.
Well…not really. Unfortunately it seems that not many people in DC saw the potential of the character at the time. Soon the writers began planting the seeds that would eventually lead to her death in 2004. First was a glimmer of hope in the that revelation that Batman had begun training Stephanie. Which is super cool on paper. The number of female superhero associates that Batman has had in his group over the years is small, pretty much limited to Barbra Gordon and a lot of his direct involvement with her and her training is very much depended on retroactive continuity. Heck, perhaps this could have been the first step to making an official female Robin (I would later eat those words). After he returned from a mission Stephanie lets it slip to Tim that she knows his secret identity. You see during their whole relationship Robin hadn’t revealed his civilian identity to the Spoiler due to his incredible loyalty to Batman and fear that it could theoretically compromise his mentors’ operation. His unwillingness to divulge even his real first name was an elephant in the room for years. It turned out that while the young hero was on said mission Batman had revealed his partner’s true identity (Why? Because Batman is a dick, I guess) leading to some rather serious trust issues between the dynamic duo. So again Miss Brown was more of a plot point to cause conflict between Batman and Robin than a character, but she was being trained by Batman and also begin mentored by the Birds of Prey so things were obviously looking up, right?
Of course not. Spoiler was soon fired by Batman, probably because the writers didn’t have any real plans for her, and he forbade her from fighting crime. Why? Because Batman is a control freak. We’ve mentioned this before. What’s worse was that Stephanie was becoming increasingly shrewish as Robin’s girlfriend looking more like a jealous clingy girl than his partner. After a series of events in his own title Tim was forced to retire as Robin due to strong concerns from his father who had recently learned of his activities. Distraught by this and other issues with their relationship Stephanie broke into the Batcave and demanded that Batman train her as the new Robin…which, by the way, was very similar to how Tim became Robin in the first place but I suspect that DC was trying to make her seem like something of an undisciplined brat for doing it. Against his better judgment Batman agreed and thus Stephanie became the fourth Robin and the first official female one. Now no matter what you say about who should have been Robin at that point the idea of a girl Robin is super awesome. Bruce Wayne cannot possibly have the same type of relationship he had with his previous partners with this new one so this storyline could have led to a completely different dynamic between the traditional Batman and Robin role. The possibilities were vast and the future seemed bright.
A bold new partnership that lasted years-
Then came the day Black Mask took a power drill to her.
I’m getting ahead of myself. Before the Eli Roth-like torturing of one of my favorite characters DC first killed her credibility. After failing to follow orders during her initial missions Batman once again fired her. So she was the fourth Robin for just a hot minute, DC displaying their complete disinterest in changing up the Batman/Robin partnership. To make matters worse Stephanie seemed hell bent on proving that she was an awful and dangerously incompetent character by stealing one of Batman’s SUPER PLANS in order to win his respect, screws it up something fierce, and causes a massive gang war (As told in Batman: War Games). Great, because I love it when my favorite characters are depicted as spoiled assholes who are also morons despite not being nearly as bad in the past. I’m fairly certain that this is all a matter of plot convenience. The writers wanted to kick off this War Games storyline and Stephanie was the sacrificial lamb they chose to use. Anyway the villain Black Mask kidnaps her during all this and tortures her near to death with a power drill in order to get information that would soon elevate his status to A-list villain. So the whole point of this was to make a B-rate villain more menacing? Women in refrigerators indeed.
Despite managing to crawl her way to a clinic Stephanie died from her injuries; her last words before her demise was asking Batman, who had snuck into her room in her last moments, whether she was ever truly Robin to which he replies “Yes.” Though the circumstances leading to her death were stupid, forced, and incredibly violent at least her last panel alive was a sweet and emotional scene, if depressing.
Also not too much long after her death it was revealed that Leslie Thompkins, the doctor who ran the clinic, had apparently let the Spoiler die from her injuries as a warning to Batman about using children in his war on crime. WHAT?! For those of you who don’t know Leslie is a longtime supporting character of Batman who was a friend of his parents and unofficial guardian of a young Bruce Wayne. In fact she’s one of the few people to know about his dual identity. While she disapproves of his activities due to her pacifists beliefs (So strong that she helps anyone who comes into her clinic, even if they’re super villains) she loves him like a son. Well apparently she had lost her goddamn mind here because she basically MURDERS Stephanie to make a point, which go against everything I understand about her character. In the end Batman chases her out of the country and threatens to throw her in prison if she ever comes back into the US or practice medicine again. So basically during this dumb storyline not only did DC kill one strong female character but they also ruined a second one. Bravo, DC, bravo.
Cue slow clap
I’m not sure why DC felt they needed to kill her off at all. Surely she could have survived and the brutal experience could have been just as relevant to the story. Oh wait, I’m being silly. Her death was a one of the driving story points of the sequel to War Games Batman: War Crimes where Batman is (rightfully) accused of endangering children. So even in death the Spoiler is still a plot device. Fantastic.
Her death, while upsetting for her fans, isn’t really the only problem. First of all it was the way she died as it has been accused of being a very sexually charged death. A man murders a teenage girl with a phallic object; I can see where one would get that idea. Another point was that Tim, now back as Robin, didn’t do all that much on-panel grieving. This is probably not as important as it seems but it just would have been nice to see the character more affected by the death of his girlfriend. Hell they wasted a perfectly good plot with him trying to cope with the fact that his rejection of the “Robin” mantle may have led directly to her death. I don’t think that ever happened, or at least not as much as it should have (Conversely Robin fell to pieces a few years later when his friends Superboy and Impulse/(Yuck)Kid Flash/The Flash/Bart Allen were murdered). Plus some fans thought that Batman himself was to blame and even suspected that his recruitment of Stephanie in the first place was a ploy to lure Tim back into the fold.
However the big problem was, following her death, Batman did not put up a memorial in her honor. For years after the death of the second Robin Jason Todd a memorial with his costume has been on display in the Batcave consistently. Fans believed that, seeing as she too was a Robin, Stephanie deserved such a tribute as well. When directly asked why she hadn’t received the honor by fans then DC editor-in-chief equivalent Dan DiDio responded “She was never really Robin” which was apparently DC’s official stance on the subject. And then the internet exploded.
Dramatization
Fans were livid by the casual treatment of the character and cries of sexism were declared. The Women in Refrigerators topic, originally started by now hotshot DC writer Gail Simone a few years prior, once again lured its head. Large amount of websites seemed to pop up not just because the Spoiler was killed and forgotten but what the act meant about gender in comics. So yeah, good job on that DC. After a few years of this in the pages of Robin, once again written by Chuck Dixon, a girl wearing the costume of the Spoiler began following Tim around. It soon turned out that this girl was in fact Stephanie Brown alive and well. Apparently, according to this new retcon, she never died in the first place. Actually Dr. Thompkins had faked her death and smuggled her out of the country so that she could recover in peace. Also Batman, he says, actually suspected as such which is why he never put a memorial up.
Really? This was the best they could do?
Now let’s ignore that this retcon is the clearest form of back peddling I’ve seen in comics since Marvel declared that Magneto didn’t actually kill all those people in New York City in the pages of New X-Men (Look it up). Let’s also ignore that the doctor’s plan was pretty stupid. Why in God’s name didn’t Batman verify she was alive if he “suspected as much.” He practically ran Thompkins out of the damn country with an elephant gun because of what she did. How does a man with a compulsive need to be in control of everything and to constantly outsmart his friends not bother to double check to make sure his FORMER SIDEKICK AND PARTNER was really dead? Was he asleep during his investigation? I’m betting that he did in fact find some evidence that may have implied her death was more than it seemed but basically just said “I can either track down Stephanie Brown or catch the new season of Lost. Meh, f**k her.”
"George W. Batman does not care about women"
Thankfully there’s a happy ending as not only has Stephanie finally gotten a chance to shine as Batgirl it turns out that the reason Cassandra quit so suddenly actually due to orders from Batman in the case of his death meaning he planned the whole thing from day one (Which doesn’t make too much sense either, but we got to take what we can get). And also the two heroes FINALLY came to terms with each other in Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl #1 as Batman has not only given his blessing for her to continue working as Batgirl but has accepted her as a member of the Batman Family, something she has been seeking for eighteen years (Real time).
One day perhaps the Spoiler will return
For now let's enjoy her as Batgirl
Thanks for reading. Let’s make the next year of Beta is Dead even better than this last one!
Hey guess what? It’s been exactly one year since I posted my first entry onto this blog. Meaning BETA IS DEAD IS ONE YEAR OLD! Time to dance!
Well that's a bit low-key for a party
Is it really that big a deal? Maybe not, but at the very least I managed to consistently post material for a whole year, more or less. That’s really good for me. At first this blog was mainly bonus material for the Saturday Morning Cartoon Show. For years I have been co-host of that radio program but with a two-hour time limit I often found it hard to fully express my feelings about the various shows were played on-air. So obviously, being a nerd, the first solution to come to my mind was to start an internet blog. You know, because I apparently never wanted to date a woman ever again. Anyway I thought maybe I could write on other things aside from classic and not so classic cartoons so now I pretty much write anything I want to, which just happens to mainly be reviews I guess. Which is kind of lame now that I think about it.
So what has changed in the last year? Well the first edition of the blog was SMCS #1: Captain N and looking back I think it’s safe to say my writing has gotten better. So that’s cool, I suppose. There’s certainly a larger chunk of followers now, which is pretty cool, and I get decent traffic. Plus I now get consistent visits from places that aren’t the United States, especially from the United Kingdom. Nice! Though I hardly get any feedback. I sometimes wonder if anyone’s actually reading this stuff since aside from “Iron Eagle” and Travis (Buddies in real life) not too many folk stop by to say hello. Hopefully this will get better over this coming year because I’m so gosh darn lonely.
Let’s look at some stats from the last year:
Aside from the main page the entry that has had the most traffic this past year has been Nerd Rage #1: Cassandra Cain as Batgirl. I got a lot of lurkers coming this way by goggling for Cassandra Cain so I suppose that makes sense. This was probably the angriest blog I'd ever written by the way. The second most visited was Scott Pilgrim [Indeterminate Amount of Time] Day 1 the intro to my three part love letter to the Scott Pilgrim franchise. The third most visited was my review of Gurren Lagann. I assume that’s because Gurren Lagann is the most badass thing that ever did anything ever.
So long as I have GIANT ROBOTS I do not need love
Later today I’ll be uploading an essay I have been meaning to write for months now so come back later to check it out. It will be another nerd rant so prepare yourself for possible boredom. My New Years’ Resolution is to make this blog "better" (Vague much?) so hopefully, a year for now, I’ll be mentioning how Beta is Dead has taken the world by storm. We’ll see.
In any event thanks for taking time to visit my boring old site the past year. Here’s to the next year.
