sailing the fingers of the dragon

Title: Praise for the City
Author: tellitslant
Fandom: DCU: Batverse
Pairing: Renee Montoya/Daria Hernandez
Rating: R
Word Count: 4000
Notes: Beta by the inimitable soupytwist. Provocation by rysler. ;)
Warnings: None.
Summary: ...and after the Earth shattered and the buildings crumbled, the nation abandoned Gotham City. But even in the No Man's Land it became, there was still beauty to cling to.

( Praise for the City )

GUYS GUYS OMG GUYS

Every time that I pick up a new issue of "Detective Comics," it is 100% pure awesome, and yet the next issue manages to be even better. I was going to do a post next week when the first Batwoman storyarc came to an end, but I hit supersonic squee mode with this week's issue and so I had to share.

( large image of spoilery spoilingness behind the cut from Tec 856 )

LET ME COUNT THE WAYS THIS IS AWESOME:

1. The art, oh my. I have some issues with the way faces, particularly cheekbones, are being done (unintentionally creepy smiles = bad), and the poses here are unusually stiff, but the layouts through the series so far are just stunning and this is one of my favourites. When Kate is Batwoman the panels are freeform and dynamic, and when she's Kate they're structured and rigid, so the change in this spread from boring to special and back to boring after the dance ends... is pretty amazing visual shorthand. Also, using the insides of the musical notes as pullout panels: love. it. This is far from the most astonishing visual JH Williams III has given us in the three issues so far, but it is so nuanced and so innovative compared to a lot of the 'traditional' nine-panel pages out there.

2. ( cut for identity of Kate's dance partner ) Seriously, I keep turning back to this page and making heart eyes at it. I had no idea I wanted this pairing to exist until canon gave me it, how often do you get to say that? I'm pretty sure they're doing some major retconning (age, for one thing) and I'm not sure I'm totally down with the characterization here, but... I don't think I actually care, because AWESOME. I'm thrilled that the next issue is next week, because I don't want to wait much longer than that to see if this is taken further!

3. In an industry that brings us "Gotham City Sirens" and "Marvel Divas" and Catwoman climbing rooftops in three-inch heels and statues of Mary Jane doing Spidey's laundry and tentacle rape selling covers... how have we possibly gotten so lucky with queer women in comics? Isn't it amazing that I can go out and pick up one of DC's current best mainstream titles, which is regularly selling out all around the world and is written by one of comics' biggest current names, and get a stunning two-page spread of two women in tuxedos dancing together? With a backup story headlined by one of the women's ex (or 'ex,' who knows)?

How awesome is it that 'Tec isn't the only book with kickass dykes in it - that "Secret Six" is all about a team of completely dysfunctional anti-heroes, and yet not only is Scandal's queerness not part of her dysfunction, it's actually more normal than most of the rest of the team? (I know - with Ragdoll and Jeannette and Deadpool on the team, and, previously, Hatter, that's not saying much, but STILL.)

Renee and Kate and Scandal are all strong, flawed, wonderfully rounded, beautifully written, totally different, women of various ethnic origins, with multiple motivations, who happen to be queer and whose queernesses are all treated so well without being too overtly political or apolitical. Seriously? This is possible? Do you have any idea how thrilled these books make me? My inner teenage fangirl is even giddier than my external present-day fangirl, which is an impressive feat. It is an embarrassment of riches and I could not be happier with DC. It's like they're getting it.

Comics are my forever fandom, and right now they are awesome. <3

Days Like These
by Kathryne
Fandom: DCU (Gotham Central)
Rating: R
Pairings: Renee/Daria
Disclaimer: DC's characters via the gospel of Greg Rucka.
Notes: A pinch-hit for rysler in Yuletide 2007, which I had to pick up when I clicked through and saw her name. She wanted dark and violent, and I tried...
Summary: ( Renee's days - and nights - are just packed. Post-Gotham Central, pre-52. )

**

Further notes: Well, rysler guessed this one, which is no surprise. But again, I'm totally shocked no one else did. I continued my tradition of writing a Yuletide fic in a fandom that I've also written on academically; anyone who's read any of my BSG fics proobably recognises the style (unless it's more obvious to me); and I have been dorking out about Renee all over this journal for the past few months! *grins* Clearly I am just sneakier than I thought.