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minhkhoas · 6 months

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THE GHOST-MAKER: a deconstruction of his identity

2.2k words | An analysis of the stereotypes & tropes surrounding Minhkhoa Khan

Minhkhoa Khan, also known as the Ghost-Maker, has been a rather significant part of the Batman mythos since his debut in Batman (2016) issue #100. The Ghost-Maker is introduced as the supposed antithesis to Bruce Wayne’s vigilante identity of Batman— he’s described as self-centered, sadistic, and cold, not holding any ounce of empathy for those around him. He kills without remorse, something that sets him apart from his Gotham counterpart, and refers to himself as having been diagnosed as a psychopath at the age of eight.

“Ghost-Maker sees Bruce as a spoiled rich brat. Bruce sees Ghost-Maker as cruel, selfish, and wildly self-important. He is more hedonistic than Batman. He is bisexual, sleeping with anyone that catches his attention. He drinks. He does drugs. He enjoys all the selfish pursuits of life. He is a PSYCHOPATH. He does not experience empathy for other people. He says that that is his strength over Bruce. Ghost-Maker is a vigilante because he enjoys being the best he is at what he does. He is like Sherlock Holmes, caring more about the art of the mystery than the victims of the crime. Ghost-Maker is most concerned with perfecting his craft. Batman is trying to fill an emotional void, and that is why Ghost-Maker sees him destined to fail.”

— James Tynion IV

On paper, it’s clear that Tynion intended for him to serve as a simultaneous ally and enemy to Batman, his allegiance swaying just as his morals do. Tynion describes Minhkhoa as centering his entire crime fighting philosophy around the need to be the best at what he does, which leads him to constantly seek to outdo Batman. The first blatant sign of his involvement in Gotham comes in the form of a message to Batman— one that involves the killing of over a dozen men, a rather brutal way to announce his presence to one of his oldest acquaintances. Whilst Batman discovers the carnage, we see Ghost-Maker complaining in length about the inefficiency of Batman’s work and the overall state of Gotham. He takes a keen interest in Bao Pham, a seventeen-year old boy who’s donned the identity of Clownhunter, a vigilante who takes justice into his own hands by killing those who conspired with the Joker. This, combined with the aforementioned massacre, is the first indication of his personality and overall lack of empathy. He shows no hesitation in his plans to seek out and kill a teenager in order to essentially shock Batman into realizing his efforts are useless.

The extent of his alleged ‘psychopathy,’ as it’s referred to both in-canon and by the creator of Ghost-Maker himself, is further explored following his initial stint in Gotham in the form of a flashback. It is then that readers understand the depth of his and Batman’s relationship; it’s clear that they met in their youth and trained together, only to separate after Minhkhoa’s penchant for killing divided them. Their relationship is once again shown to be competitive, with Minhkhoa and Bruce using physical violence to settle a disagreement. Throughout the altercation, Minhkhoa taunts Bruce and seemingly uses his emotions to his advantage whilst remaining levelheaded. All of these details develop him into a character who finds amusement in violence, and feels little to no guilt at manipulating others.

A shift in Minhkhoa’s depiction arrived with the publication of issue #4 of writer Chip Zdarsky’s Batman: The Knight, a ten-issue storyline following Bruce Wayne as he trained around the world in preparation to become Batman. We see Minhkhoa and Bruce meeting as young teenagers with the shared goal of pursuing crime fighting, journeying together across the world. Their friendship blurs the line between platonic and romantic expression on multiple occasions, with Minhkhoa nearly kissing Bruce at one point during their training. It even extends beyond their time together in the form of one of Bruce’s mentors— Dr. Captio who, incidentally, was training Bruce to overcome physical pain despite him being incapable of overcoming his emotional pain— referring to Minhkhoa as “the little ghost that broke Bruce’s heart” following an argument that caused them to separate and ended in Bruce finding Dr. Captio without Minhkhoa’s help.

The topic of Minhkhoa’s name is another trove of information entirely, as Bruce only discovered his true name after months of traveling with Minhkhoa. Sometime following this discovery, Bruce inevitably begins to use the nickname “Khoa” to refer to him. Whether it was given to him by Bruce or pre-existing is unknown, but he is the first person to refer to Minhkhoa with it, suggesting that he did create it. The notion that Minhkhoa, who’s previously been described as not caring for other people, would allow this is just one of numerous plot points brought up by Zdarsky that slowly chip away at the one-dimensional caricature created by Tynion.

Minhkhoa is a brown, Asian, bisexual man, all of which is established by James Tynion IV throughout Batman (2016). He hails from Singapore, though the multiethnic nature of his name— with ‘Minh’ and ‘Khoa’ being Vietnamese names and ‘Khan’ having roots in South and Central Asia— suggests his ancestry stretches far beyond the city-state. It’s unclear if Tynion intended for Ghost-Maker to be so ethnically ambiguous aside from his clear Asian ancestry, that of which is truly confirmed by Minhkhoa’s appearance on an Asian-American Pacific Islander heritage month variant cover. His racial identity is rarely touched upon, which is simply the start of the slippery slope that becomes the fetishization and exotification of non-white men in Western media.

Minhkhoa is shown to sleep with both men and women in a rather careless manner, using sex as a form of meditation in order to solve crimes and further his own crime fighting agenda. He shows little to no emotional connection with the people he spends his nights with, and is significantly more promiscuous than Batman is. This in itself is a heavy propagation of the idea that bisexual individuals are unable to stay in committed relationships because their lack of single-gender attraction renders them incapable of forming meaningful connections. He appears in DC Comics’ 2023 Pride volume, in which he interacts with Catman— Thomas Blake— and subsequently sleeps with him, thus underlining the common theme of Minhkhoa’s relationships being limited to nothing more than a physical connection. This is emphasized especially when he’s seen leaving bed with both a man and woman by his side, whom he tells to make up grand stories about their time together in order to hyperbolize his feats and create mystery around his life.

His penchant for meaningless flings and physical connection is intrinsically connected to his status as a brown man, a member of a group that tends to be largely fetishized by Western audiences. He is visibly brown/tan when depicted with large portions of skin showing, often in the aftermath of a night of passion, yet he’s whitewashed when presented in other contexts. This pattern deviates in Batman: The Knight where we still see an aspect of sexualization when he’s seen seducing a man far older than him in issue #5, a tactic that could’ve been largely avoided and yet was likely used to emphasize his bisexuality. He is only allowed to be brown when it’s appealing to the audience, when his body is on display, and when he’s not meant to be an esteemed crime fighter.

On another front, his identity as the Ghost-Maker is largely debated by the global community, with most people believing he doesn’t exist. He’s treated as a myth— a man larger than life, despite his seemingly active involvement in Southeast Asia’s crime scene. The mere concept of the Ghost-Maker is treated as legend, similar to how the people of Gotham speculated over Batman’s existence during Bruce’s early days as the vigilante. However, it raises a larger question: Why is Minhkhoa Khan so elusive, and what were the motivations behind making him so?

The answer requires the consideration of several factors: the fact that there are less than ten living people who know Minhkhoa’s name and even less that have seen his face, the overall nature of his work as a vigilante with no qualms against killing, his status as a ‘foreign vigilante’ when compared to the other members of Batman’s circle, and the treatment of his overarching identity as a whole.

It’s clear that Ghost-Maker is far more secretive than Batman, most significantly in his personal life. Batman is inextricably tied to his public persona of Bruce Wayne, the former-billionaire CEO of Wayne Enterprises and “Gotham’s favorite son,” whereas Minhkhoa Khan is simply unknown to the world. When considered in the scope of his vigilantism, it makes sense: he commits objectively more ‘severe’ crimes than Batman, disregarding the fact that he doesn’t kill when working with Batman following his promise to refrain from doing so. However, when factoring in his racial identity, it quickly begins to unravel.

Comic books are far from immune from stereotypes, and even more well-known for orientalism in iconic characters such as Ra’s Al Ghul and his daughter, Talia, both of whom are portrayed with a certain mystique and air of exoticism. Though it may not have been intentional, there is something to be said about the tropes surrounding Minhkhoa Khan. He’s mysterious, alluring, and utilizes swords similar to katanas despite not being Japanese, adding to the air of foreignness surrounding him. Bruce states on numerous occasions that there’s something “broken” in him, and a large part of their arguments are founded on the basis of Bruce attempting to pacify or fix Minhkhoa and his efforts being rejected every time.

When Bruce Wayne is angry, it’s justified, often caused by an overwhelming need to survive in the instance of Batman: The Knight. When Minhkhoa Khan is angry, it’s out of malicious intent to harm others and is just further ‘proof’ of his innate inhumanity. He’s not allowed to be angry, not in the sense that Batman is, because his anger is violence and his violence is feral. His actions are driven by an inability for him to control himself, hence why he has no issue with sleeping around and killing people. There is always something inherently ‘other’ about him because he is brown, something that is even further emphasized by his juxtaposition to Batman.

Minhkhoa is without a doubt a complex character, as seen in the way he seeks out knowledge to understand the emotions of those around him— most notably Bruce— and effectively go against the harsh stereotypes surrounding him. The layers to his personality are deep, and yet they’re not immune to subconscious bias on the writers’ parts. He’s violent, almost alarmingly so, and is only “tamed” when he makes a promise to a white man. He allegedly doesn’t understand emotions and has to be told to make an effort to do so despite being a grown man, and this in itself is a disservice to two integral parts of his identity.

His presumed antisocial personality disorder is treated as one-dimensional and not multifaceted as personality disorders tend to be, and he only seems capable of experiencing one emotion at a time. He’s allowed to be harsh, but that harshness is dulled when he’s around Bruce, his alleged ‘pacifier.’ He’s shown to be emotionally stunted and incapable of caring for children despite being exceedingly smart in other categories, which is strange. It would be assumed that a man of his caliber would understand the fundamentals of raising a child, especially when he understands his own emotions enough to program an artificial intelligence to feel fear for him. Perhaps it’s intended to be a mirror of Bruce Wayne’s own inability to seek professional help, but Bruce is allowed to and has grown from their youth, while Minhkhoa evidently hasn’t.

There is an inherent issue within the overarching ‘Batman Family’ in that less popular characters are shunted in favor of placing Batman at the forefront, depriving his allies of the proper growth and characterization they deserve. We see it in Barbara Gordon and Selina Kyle, whose character development arcs have been completely shattered post-New 52 in order to make them more palatable love interests for Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne, respectively. It’s seen with Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain, who are often overlooked in favor of their male counterparts, and it’s seen in Duke Thomas, who has always been placed on the outskirts of both canon and fandom content despite being created ten years ago and being a fairly-established character.

Minhkhoa is no stranger to this trend, his personality and actions seemingly shifting based on whether he’s interacting with Batman or not. This could be explored in depth through a lens other than the precarious pacifier-pacified dynamic, yet DC Comics refuses to pursue anything further. They attempted to mold him in Batman Incorporated (2022) but fell short with a lackluster plot and prolonged continuations of the aforementioned tropes and stereotypes.

Ghost-Maker is a character teeming with potential, as are all of Batman’s allies, but he’s veering towards a dangerous characterization if DC continues to go down the path of hiring uneducated writers to portray him. There are several intentional aspects of his character, most notably found in his intentional color parallels with Batman, and yet they can’t seem to put in an effort to treat him and his experience with care and respect.

#mars.txt #dc #bruce wayne #ghostbat #minhkhoa khan #ghostmaker #UMMMMM. I was kind of insane ove rthis sorry

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deimostes · 2 months

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PLEASE tell me more about your Omegadow headcanons

OH MAN. GLADLY!!!!!!

building off the little thing team dark have where rouge and shadow always sit on omega's shoulders - omega likes carrying shadow around in his arms. at first it's just like, a mid-combat thing where he'll catch him if he falls, or whenever hes especially tired after a fight (as he'll do with rouge too), but sometimes on a normal day he just picks him up while knowing damn well shadow can handle himself. shadow tells him this too, but all flustered and Not admitting that he likes it. something something the big strong killing machine designed to keep you in check treating you with care like you're the most delicate thing in the world

i think it would be really funny if rouge associated chili dogs with them more than she did with sonic:

like that's her boys. she thinks they're SO cute she loves them so bad. she'll walk by a hotdog stand or something and just think to herself "huh, chili and hot dogs ..... !!! shadow and omega!!!!"

dating changes NOTHING about their competitiveness. the obvious! it just makes it come off insanely gay to anyone else listening. sparring is a date to them. these two love to rile each other up as a form of flirting. it's the only way they'll flirt in front of other people too. i'm particularly thinking of their TSR interactions like these are so

^ this last one is making me crack up. the betrayal. "LOVE IS DEAD AND NEVER EXISTED. ALL YOU DID WAS BETRAY ME AS I LAY SICK AND FESTERING. YOU ARE THE DEFINITION OF DREAD." "...you okay hun?" "MY BOYFRIEND HIT ME WITH A FUCKIGN WISP"

shadow starts using nicknames for omega without realizing it. omega has NO idea how to react at first but then he does too. he never thought he'd be calling anyone "love" in his life, but with someone who understands him as much as shadow does, he finds it comes naturally. neither of them are super openly affectionate, especially shadow, but eventually they get to the point they casually use these nicknames in front of other people. rouge is the first one to witness it. doodle about this i forgot i had in my files

i saw u liked my girl leonid (THANK U <3) so i'll talk about her too :) with a kid one would think these two would be like that one meme, shadow as the picture of the person cuddling the baby on a beach chair vs omega holding the baby upside down just by the leg and swinging em around. but i think it's the other way around when leonid is a baby. like omega is so so scared he feels like he's gonna pop her. meanwhile shadow (while not being as crazy as the meme depicts LMAO) can tell she's strong, like this is HIS and OMEGA'S kid, she'll be fine. and he's right! omega just has no idea how to react when he now has a whole CHILD but he gets used to it and she ends up just as happy to cause destruction as him :) naturally the ultimate lifeform and ultimate robot would have the ultimate cyborg - theres a day where leonid calls herself this for the first time just like, completely unprompted, and if robots could cry omega would have (it probably comes out as funny little warbling noises from his voice box instead)

#ask #measlyfurball13 #mars.txt #shadomega #doodles #leonid the cyborg hedgehog #ty for the ask :D when i checked my phone after work and saw the notif i got SO excited to answer it

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