Why Bart/Kon Shouldn't Be A Rare-Pair: The Konbart Manifesto and Friendship Deep-Dive.
This is a long post with a read more cut further down.
Trigger Words: Death, Depression
I feel like during the time Kon and Bart were both out of comic continuity a lot of comic enjoyers 1.) forgot that these two were intensely close and 2.) in the case of newer fans never even realized the depths of their friendship even prior to Young Justice 2019.
This post is going to primarily focus on Bart and Kon's friendship and how they work together both presented in the comics, and what is implied through dialog and circumstantial events.
Even if you are not looking at what is presented below through the shipping lens, what I am going to compile here at the very least showcases that they have an intense friendship and solidifies that Kon is one of Bart's lightening rods and these two are relevant to each other in ways that I rarely see explored in fan works.
Bart in fanworks with Kon is frequently more or less there as a backdrop to another ship, is there for light moments or just is glazed over as "not a best friend" when the comics make it blatant that Bart and Kon are intensely close.
So let me explain their history and why they work so well together as friends first, and how the ship makes sense and should not be considered rare or a "crack-ship" as they are mutually affectionate.
1.) Kon and Bart share a ridiculous amount of things in common.
I talk about this frequently on this blog and others have pointed this out before in separate posts, but their similarities and sense of belonging to their respective worlds are factors that absolutely bind them closer and in special ways that others do not.
Unfortunately, this is (mostly) an indirect example of their dynamic because DC either sees no value in exploring these commonalities, or writers just have not recognized these details to explore them to fulfil deeper connections between Kon and Bart.
The exception to this was when Bart acknowledged their own sense of isolation and 'weirdness' in Young Justice 2019 The Emancipation of Bartholomew.
"I don't know who to talk to about any of this. No one can relate. Not even the other Flashes. I think that's what you and I always kind of had in common, Conner. We are not like everyone else. Even in our Superman and Flash columns... We are the most different." - Bart
Bart is ultimately correct here as both he and Kon share that when it comes to their family columns they stand out and have history and abilities that is isolating to the point where others in their families might not be able to connect to or relate to them in specific ways, but that doesn't stop their respective families from trying and loving them regardless.
Other than their isolation, they also share in common some key things that happened to them in their lives and some traits that a writer could absolutely capitalize on to make a strong story and it binds them closer together.
Here's a non-exhaustive list of past formative events that both Kon and Bart share.
- They both were victims of dubiously moral scientists at the orders of cruel men.
- They both do not have proper childhoods due to their unique births, younger life situations, and weird aging (see #4).
- Both have genius level intellects, but no one really acknowledges it or takes it seriously.
- They both had weird aging outside of Sins of Youth.
- Both were cloned by cruel people and their clones replace them so successfully they fooled their friends and family that the imposter was them.
- Both at varying times had members of their respective families not believe in them and questioned their integrity, morality and ability to be a hero.
- Both mutually shared trauma associated with Bart's first "death" on Apokolips that others in their team did not.
- Both had their mentors 'die' while they were not present and had to have the news delivered to them after it already happened. For Bart this was Max, and for Kon it was Jim Harper.
- Both were raised by elderly people.
- Both for a good period of time lived in the same state just hours from each other.
- Both essentially 'grew up' and changed their entire identities overnight which can be fairly read as an expression of deep depression.
- They both died just within months of each other.
- To counterpoint #5 they were both part of Tim's cloning adventures in present time and in a hypothetical future.
- They were both erased from existence in the reboot, and both remembered each other and everything about the world before it rebooted.
As I mentioned before, the list above is not really mentioned between Kon and Bart in the comics, and they do not have any real conversations about how they share various trauma as comic narration tends to avoid characters hashing out feelings unless it is to serve growth that a writer wants to develop. However in a realistic scenario there is a strong likelihood that Kon and Bart would realize their commonality and feel kindred and comforted to know that there is someone else out there in the world that understands what they went through on a deep, personal level.
