Talia Al Ghul Appreciation

[oasis1313]

Does anybody else besides me hate "Death and the Maidens"? I always love Klaus Jansen's art, but this book felt needlessly cruel to Talia.

[t hedge coke]

I accept that some feel Morrison's Talia lacked development, and range, but... we saw her happy, we saw her sad, we saw her angry, we saw her winning, we saw everything slipping away from her, we saw her under her father, beside her father, and keeping him under house arrest, we saw her young and naive, we saw her adult and jaded, in love, furious, confused, in control. We saw a wide range of emotions from her, a range of interests, she had a different kind of dynamic with every character she dealt with in the run, from Batman to Darkk to her father and mother. She wanted to bait Batman, she wanted to burn him. She wanted her son to know his father, wanted her son to choose her over his father, wanted her son dead, regretted the death of her son. We saw her laugh, yell, kiss, kill, pout, rage, and grieve.

It doesn't have to be the kind of range you (oh rhetorical you) wanted, but it is quite a bit of range and breadth.

[Abishai100]

Perhaps "Gotham" (Fox TV) is inspiring all kinds of alternate origin stories.

"Talia was a member of a sorority during her college years and witnessed the rape of her friend. She swore to enact more shrewd social managment of justice and later assisted the League of Assassins for her unusual father."

Perhaps vigilantism is colored by personalization. Talia is a great 'personalization avatar' in the Batman (DC Comics) empire.

[James Hunter]

Does anybody else besides me hate "Death and the Maidens"? I always love Klaus Jansen's art, but this book felt needlessly cruel to Talia.

I actually loved DEATH AND THE MAIDENS. I agree there were elements that were needlessy cruel to Talia but I loved it over all personally.

Cheers.

James.

[Abishai100]

What if Talia hired an airline stewardess to help her smuggle narcotics between Amsterdam and New York?

Would we still think of her as a shrewd eco-terrorist working for her father Ra's al Ghul?

We would if the narcotics operation was designed to channel black market profits to some developing eco-mission.

What if Talia enlisted the assistance of a Washington D.C. restaurant owner in passing notes about black market weapons to various American radicalism-sympathizing politicians who dined there?

Talia al Ghul is a woman who represents the creature instincts of Gotham City.

[Matt Krotzer]

I liked Talia better everytime someone other than Chris Burnham drew her. Dude draws some FUGLY women.

[brucekent12]

I wasn't crazy about thw way Morrison wrote her in Incorporated, but overall, I like the way she been characterized and can't wait to see Tomasi handle her in B/R.

[oasis1313]

I actually loved DEATH AND THE MAIDENS. I agree there were elements that were needlessy cruel to Talia but I loved it over all personally.

Cheers.

James.

Love Klaus Jansen--an unsung hero in comics art. But it was TOO cruel to Talia, even if she IS a louse. Now she is The Hungry Woman of the Himalayas.

[Abishai100]

Talia is to Ra's al Ghul what Harley Quinn is to the Joker.

Talia provides Ra's a nest for idyllic scheming.








Ra's al Ghul

[JBatmanFan05]

Looking back, I see why Grant did what he did with Talia and think he did a great scorned take and elevated her some.

That she died was a shock, but I thought it was worthy ending for the high stakes Inc tale.

Her story has a great ending in Inc.

LOL *eyes rolling*...I checked wikipedia and she's already back (in Robin Rises Alpha), I should have guessed. Graves not even cold and they're back.


Maybe I'll ignore her return though and let Inc be her grand finale. New 52 has me keeping my own canon now.

[Thirteen]

A favorite Talia moment (Batman or no) - Villians United miniseries finale: The Daughter of the Demon Head faces off with Scandal, the Daughter of Immortal Vandal Savage.
I'll even forgive the cheat ending for the "elegance" of the match up...

taliavsscandal.jpg
scandalvstalia2.jpg

[The Kid]

Talia is generally one of my favorite characters in the Batman universe. I love her as a love interest of Bruce, both temporary and as the "one" (BTAS, Arkham games). That said, I also liked her descent to full-on villain recently.

What should they use Talia for now that Damian is back? An archenemy to him? Or should they make her more of a gray character who walks the line between anti-hero and villain.

One thing I do hope they do is retcon the fact that she drugged Bruce. That just annoys me. I'd prefer if she poked a hole in his condom or Bruce just didn't pull out or something like that. Never been a fan of that tidbit

[M L A]

Well given what happened at the end of Robin Rises Alpha or whenever that was, most of what she did will be ignored unless its a OMG BRUCE AND DAMIAN ARE SO CONFLICTED ABOUT IT thing going on.

[t hedge coke]

One thing I do hope they do is retcon the fact that she drugged Bruce. That just annoys me. I'd prefer if she poked a hole in his condom or Bruce just didn't pull out or something like that. Never been a fan of that tidbit

Bruce said she drugged him, but what we see in Inc was that she probably did give him something to loosen inhibitions but he was also drinking, something he doesn't really do and probably has low tolerance for. Most of "you drugged me" seemed to be a years later annoyance with himself that he slept with a career global criminal.

I'm not sure, though, that Talia being a rapist and having drugged Batman once is all that worse than her profiting off assassinations, terrorism, biological warfare, drug running, human trafficking, extortion, etc.

[GoingPostal]

The drugs thing always sounded to me like Bat pulling some sad excuses. Yeah, sure, you took some stuff, drunk even more, we all been there. Now be a big boy and assume what you did lol.

But it sure fits Talia's character i think, she wants something, she does whatever in her power to get it. Even some drugs why not.