#Dinah Soar

[diana-andraste]

Allez mourir plus loin and Dinah Soar, Bill Domonkos, 2016

#film #experimental film #short film #black and white #bill domonkos #2016 #gif #animation #dinah soar #allez mourir plus loin #skeleton #skull #art

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #46: FRANCHISE

July, 1989

Great Lakes Avengers Assemble?!

I have been waiting for this.

I've read this issue before, in a collected edition of Dan Slott's Great Lakes Avengers miniseries. But now I have all the context leading up to this and I'll get to see what else this wacky group did in their early appearances.

And, hell. Out of everything in the Byrne run so far, this is his first shake up that's not deeply annoying!

Byrne is the one who pulls the trigger on the idea of a third Avengers team teased when Vision was trying to expand the Avengers. But not quite as he enVisioned it.

Hah.

Last times on West Coast Avengers: Between issues, Tigra, Hank Pym, and the Wasp joined the West Coast Avengers. Then Vision got kidnapped by every government in the world and disassembled into a pile of parts. Hank Pym puts everyone's favorite synthezoid back together but he's all white now and he doesn't have emotions and only has Avengers case files for memories.

The American government also forced the West Coast Avengers to take on US Agent or else reprisals. Hawkeye quit in a huff after US Agent tosses him after Hawkeye tried to punch him.

We learned in the big Avengers meeting over in Avengers that Hawkeye has a new group so let's get into it.

Geez, Mr Immortal, you're a bit manic there.

A bank robbery is happening at the Milwaukee Farmers and Merchants Trust. And we know this is Milwaukee because one of the robbers very considerately wears a Milwaukee jacket.

A dude we'll later learn is called Mr Immortal drops down from the ceiling, quips a bit, dodges some gunfire, hits a couple dudes, and then... doesn't dodge some other gunfire.

That looks like it hurts.

The robbers gather around the dead, deceased hero to make sure he's really dead.

And he's gotta be, right? Half of his chest is bulleted to hell.

And then things go to hell. For the robbers.

Flatman swipes the hostages with his stretchy definitely not a spoof of Mr Fantastic body. Big Bertha OH YEAHs through the wall. Dinah Soar flies through a Doorman shaped portal in another wall.

The Great Lakes Avengers are usually treated comically. They're a ridiculous team, operating in a ridiculous area, with ridiculous powers and the big joke about them in the Dan Slott series was how they were constantly overshadowed by the official Avengers and how none of the other heroes wanted to interact with them.

Except Squirrel Girl, who they hired by sorta lying that they were the real Avengers.

Ridiculous group with ridiculous powers they may be but in this action sequence, they're coordinated. They had a good plan to distract the robbers so the hostages could be pulled out of harms way. And then their ridiculous powers took down the gunmen no problem.

Yeah, these guys aren't going to be fighting Doctor Doom without hefty authorial fiat (but isn't that the way all comics work anyway?) but they're not bumbling amateurs.

And I appreciate that.

Last robber standing backs away in shock horror... right into the arms of Mr Immortal.

Who is not, in fact, dead. Or at least, he didn't stay dead.

Immortal, y'know?

Robber: "They're poppin' outta th' woodwork! Who are these geeks? Milwaukee don't have no super heroes!" Mr Immortal: "Guess again! Y'all are gonna be seein' a lot of us from now on! Y'all are gonna be seein' us in your nightmares!" Robber: "Wha...? No!! You're dead!!!" Mr Immortal: "Wrong-o, creep! I'm just as right as rain! But you aren't gonna be! By the time I get done with you... You'll prob'ly never be anything like right. Not never again!!"

Mr Immortal apparently goes a bit berserk after resurrecting.

He punches the robber down and then starts stomping him.

Flatman has to pull him off the guy. And Mr Immortal won't settle down until Dinah Soar talks to him in an empty text bubble.

Dinah Soar is the only one who CAN get him to calm down.

Flatman guesses its some kind of hypersonic. In the later Dan Slott series, its revealed that its actually True Love what does it. Yes, for serious. It was sweet, actually.

Last member of the team comes into the bank and tells the rest that there's a bunch of police and reporters who want to know what the devil is going on.

Mr Immortal goes out to address the crowd and press. When reporter Peggy Allen asks him who this group of do-gooders is, he dubs the team...

THE GREAT LAKES AVENGERS!

Hawkeye hears the news report in the random motel he's staying in after rage-quitting the Avengers.

His first instinct is to call the team and let them know about randos infringing the brand but then decides 'fuck 'em' because he's still mad about the government meddling in the team.

There's a knok knok knoking on Clint's door and making his bad mood worse, its Mockingbird.

He is very sarcastic about his day being ruined but she says she's here to save their marriage.

News to him. He thought they were dead set on getting a divorce.

But time off-panel and with a different writer has cooled Mockingbird's head. And since they're both going through some trying times now, maybe they should rethink things.

Hawkeye: "You mean now that I've been kicked off the team I founded I'm all of a sudden a pitiful soul so you've gone all maternal and decided to come back to the roost and take care of me! Well, thanks but no thanks, Bobbi!" Mockingbird: "You're not being fair, Clint. Although I guess that's nothing new, is it?" Hawkeye: "And just what is that supposed to mean?" Mockingbird: "It means you have all the sensitivity of a brick. I got mixed up with the Phantom Rider because he drugged me, used me, and when you found out, did you react like a husband whose wife has been assaulted? NO!! You went off on some stupid macho kick! And I was hurt enough to pay you back with your own coin. When I needed you -- maybe more than I ever have before -- you were too busy stroking your wounded male ego to notice. Something that could have bound us even closer together drove us apart. Well... that damage is done. Now I'm here to see if it can be undone. Because, heaven help me, in spite of everything, I still love you!"

I can't believe Byrne of all people is cutting through the bullshit and having Mockingbird say 'hey all that stuff we were yelling about wasn't the crux of the issue and you were being a major asshole, Clint.'

He's re-litigating a lot of Englehart's stuff. Redoing the Tigra plot. Revising Englehart's origin for Vision. Shoving people that had quit back onto the team.

I didn't expect him to use this power for good.

Because the Hawkeye/Mockingbird falling out was bad. Maybe in character for the two stubborn jerks. But it needed another look and here we are, taking another look.

Mockingbird doesn't even entertain the notion that its really a philosophical disagreement about cowboy manslaughter.

I'll have to see where it goes. Because it could go poorly in its own unique way.

Back over at the West Coast Avengers Compound, US Agent has made a good impression on one person and only one person.

The new cook, Mrs. Heyges, who is pleased to see someone that actually enjoys a big breakfast.

Most of the West Coast Avengers only have a slice of toast and some orange juice.

US Agent: "A man has to keep his strength up, Mrs. Heyges. And, of course, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Besides... You're almost as good a cook as my mother!" Mrs. Heyges: "Well, gracias, sir! I know that must be quite a compliment."

Based on her comments that she doesn't get to really cook for the others, US Agent muses that he should introduce a proper meal schedule.

Then, Tigra happens.

Looking for a proper meal of her own.

A.k.a. chasing a mouse.

She's seemingly gone full feral, although she doesn't have that same alien cat look she did last time.

Either Byrne thought better of it or it comes and goes for some damn reason.

She chases a mouse in, hisses and growls when US Agent grabs her, and sullenly creeps away when he slaps her for trying to bite him.

The cat instincts have taken over.

(I don't love that we're doing this again but it is better than her trying to hump everyone? I mean. Slightly better. The main reason I'm annoyed is that we're just doing this plot again. In a vacuum it wouldn't be so bad.)

(Also also, last time she jumped through a window to chase a bird. I can only assume she's destroyed the local bird population. Folks, Tigras are inside Avengers. Keep them inside for their own health and for the good of the ecosystem.)

Mrs. Heyges says that Tigra has been hunting the mice that get into the pantry. And she's new here and didn't really want to tell an Avenger what to do so she just sorta figured. Hunting mice was part of Tigra's job??

US Agent declares this very gross and decides something has to be done!

I mean. Something does need to be done. It speaks ill of everyone that nobody has noticed Tigra's issues until now. And the only dude that sorta knew she was going through something was Hawkeye and he stormed off in a huff.

I guess Wanda is going through some stuff. And Wonder Man is being kind of a creep about Wanda's stuff. And Vision is very neutral on everything these days. But fucks sake, Wasp or Hank Pym. You two are the adults here!

Over in the A-plot, Mockingbird has convinced Hawkeye to go to Milwaukee to check out the group calling themselves Avengers. Because it beats him sitting around feeling sorry for himself for rage-quitting the West Coast Avengers.

Although, he's rewritten history so that he was unjustly fired.

But since he had the impulse to go check out the Great Lakes Avengers, why not ride that impulse into something productive?

So over in Milwaukee, the Great Lakes Avengers check out mysterious lights over the Germania Building.

Mr Immortal sends Dinah Soar to check out the roof of the building and has Doorman make a portal (with his BODY) so Flatman can get inside the building and look for a way to let everyone else in.

Flatman thinks to himself how weird it is that when he goes through Doorman, he feels like he's briefly in another place entirely. Like, not even on Earth anymore.

Apparently, a subtle nod to Doorman's powers working through the Darkforce Dimension.

Up on the roof, Dinah Soar gets ambushed and captured by some manner of bola arrow.

At the mercy of this mystery assailant, Dinah Soar takes out a little whistle and sadly tweets on it.

Mr Immortal and Big Bertha hear the sad tooting and realize Dinah Soar is in trouble!

So Big Bertha gets Mr Immortal to hang onto her back and high jumps to the roof to get him there in a hurry.

To the mystery assailant's bafflement.

Mr Immortal: "You get clear now while I take care of this clown." Mystery Assailant who is definitely not Hawkeye: "'Clown?' Takes spunk to wear a suit like that and call somebody else a clown, pal!"

Glass houses, mystery assailant.

Big Bertha falls back to ground level, laughing all the way.

I am not sure why she does this. In other stuff, she's usually one of the more serious members of the Great Lakes Avengers.

Anyway, some more Great Lakes Avengers thoughts. Presumably Big Bertha could have pulled herself up onto the roof. She's got super strength. But mystery assailant has already captured Dinah Soar so Mr Immortal is going in alone to feel the guy out.

He doesn't die when he's killed. He's the best for gauging threat level.

He's also a clown, whether or not you think his costume is sillier than anyone else's. Lets say Hawkeye, for the sake of an example.

He acrobats around mystery assailant and proclaims "Okay, wiseguy... I don't know what your game is... but you're way out of your league... now that the Avengers are here!"

Leading mystery assailant to reveal himself to be... AN IMPOSTER DRESSED LIKE HAWKEYE??

Hawkeye: "'Dressed as Hawkeye...??' I am Hawkeye, an' I'm here to find out what you so-called 'Avengers' think you're up to! In case you don't know it, buster, the Avengers' name isn't up for grabs by any ol' Tom, Dick, an' Harriet!"

So Mr Immortal kicks him in the face for impersonating an Avenger. That's rude, y'know. Probably not a felony BUT MAYBE IT SHOULD BE.

Mr Immortal: "You think you can defeat the Avengers by pretending to be Hawkeye? The real Hawkeye would have blocked my attack easily!"

Mockingbird shows up and repays the favor by kicking Mr Immortal in the face for kicking Hawkeye in the face.

She explains that Hawkeye sucks ass at close quarters combat. I don't think that's entirely true but I like to think Mockingbird isn't above being a little petty.

Mr Immortal is alarmed that there's a woman impersonating Mockingbird now!

It turns out that Mr Immortal is almost current with superhero gossip.

He knows that Mockingbird and Hawkeye have split up, he knows that Mockingbird quit the Avengers. He doesn't know that Hawkeye recently also quit the Avengers.

So you can see where the confusion comes from.

You might not see why Mr Immortal decides his next move is to backflip off the roof.

Maybe he wanted to see how the "imposters" would react to it.

Well, not personally. He'd have to rely on someone else telling him how they reacted to it. He's temporarily dead from hitting the ground really hard.

But Flatman saw the whole thing and realized that Mockingbird sounds sincerely distraught that a dude just died.

Hawkeye: "Flatman?? I don't believe it! You got a partner called 'Ribbon?'"

Its funny that DC comics is apparently fictional within Marvel because the Avengers have also met the Justice League.

Silly comics.

Mockingbird berates Hawkeye's joke for being inappropriate. A man just died!

Flatman awkwardly explains that Mr Immortal doesn't really die.

So at Mockingbird's request, they all convene at Great Lakes Avengers' HQ... er... Big Bertha's place.

It's a fancy place.

Hawkeye asks how she can afford such nice digs but it turns out that when Big Bertha isn't superheroing, she's supermodel Ashely Crawford, darling of many Vogue covers. One of the highest paid models in the biz.

So Hawkeye asks what a successful model is doing "playing super hero."

And again, at this point the West Coast Avengers are silly. They're comical. They're not a joke.

Big Bertha: "I don't think of it as... playing, Hawkeye. None of us do. We're all just as serious about this as you are."

Yeah, Hawkeye!

Mockingbird asks how the group got together... and why "Great Lakes Avengers"?

We don't get the whole story now but it's implied that Mr Immortal go them together and stated that the name was his idea. He wanted to maintain the coastal theme but there's no north coast so...

But the real question that Mockingbird is getting at is who do the Great Lakes Avengers think they are, using the Avengers brand without permission? The Avengers are pretty fussy about who gets called Avenger! Says the lady who is not currently an Avenger!

I don't think she actually cares. But she assumes Hawkeye cares and she's here to get his mind on anything but fuming about US Agent or her.

Annnnnd Hawkeye has changed his mind!

Hawkeye: "I'm startin' to think maybe this Midwest team isn't such a bad idea. Your powers are kinda funky, and your code names stink... But with the proper management... my management... This could be a heckuva team!"

Ah, dammit, Hawkeye! You ragequit one team so you're going to force your way onto this one, huh?

I don't know how it will be handled immediately in this book but after the fact, in the later Dan Slott series, the Great Lakes Avengers view the whole thing pretty cheerfully.

The big league came down to coach their team. It gives them credibility and helps them be better at superheroing, which they're all pretty serious about.

I'll have to see how it unfolds as it goes though.

Current team lead Mr Immortal is still regrowing his brains and hasn't expressed an opinion on Hawkeye's pending takeover.

It is so funny though! Hawkeye gets forced out of the West Coast Avengers slash quits so his rebound is to just take over someone else's team!

He does the same thing when he accidentally screws himself out of a spot on Busiek's Avengers! Tracks down the Thunderbolts and goes 'my team now.'

It may be his real superpower.

Anyway, the other B-plot.

Wanda seems to be doing better after the whole husband robot thing and dropping a cliff on Wonder Man. Maybe. Hard to say. She's had a good swim, at least.

And then Roberto Carlos of the Avengers Compound Support Staff brings Wanda a letter from the Absolon College of Robotics.

Remember Absolon College had that big list of mutants to do Something With and Wanda is the one they settled on?

The letter claims that their research into artificial intelligence may be able to restore Vision back to his good ol' self.

Is... is it public knowledge that Vision was taken apart by the government and had his brain FUBAR'd??

Because if not, that's a red flag!

The other red flag is that the letter is from Jeremiah Random, which sounds like a made-up name!

This is going to end badly! And I'm not just saying that because the next time box says THIS ANCIENT EVIL!

Follow @essential-avengers because woo! Great Lakes Avengers! Love those guys! Like, comment, reblog maybe?

#essential avengers #avengers #west coast avengers #great lakes avengers #hawkeye #mockingbird #Mr Immortal #Flatman #Big Bertha #Dinah Soar #Doorman #US Agent #Tigra #Scarlet Witch #some avengers compound support staff #hawkeye bullies some newbie heroes for trademark infringement

[weirdraccoon]

If I can ask you for another one shot 😙.It's set quite a few years after the events of Hogwarts and mc gets pregnant with Sebastian and it turns out it's a little girl and they call her Miriam, can I ask what Fig's reaction would be? 💜💜

Sorry for the wait! Been working on this during my free time and then I was writing it here in drafts and I closed it before saving it and had to rewrite half of it 😭😭 hope it's good. I really like daddy!Seb.

MC couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of her husband.

Sebastian was cooing at the bundle of blankets in his arms, making faces and showering them with all the love and affection he had. MC's heart was soaring, and it would probably explode if she could actually see the giggling baby inside the blankets.

As it was, Sebastian claimed it was too chilly for her baby girl and proceeded to cover her and wrap her in all the blankets he could find before they had to leave for Fig's apartment.

"Who's a good baby girl?" Sebastian cooed, nuzzling the blanket, or that was what it looked like, he probably had a better view of the hidden baby in there. "Who's the best baby girl?"

"I am," MC smirked from his side, making him choke on his own laughter.

"Merlin, MC, not in front of the baby," Sebastian scolded playfully.

MC only shrugged.

They finally arrived at the building and she pulled the door open for her babies.

"Why, thank you," Sebastian grinned jokingly, making her roll her eyes.

"Just get in," MC said. "They're waiting for us."

Sebastian's grin remained in place even as he leaned to kiss her chastely.

As she suspected, their friends and former professors were already there when they entered the apartment. Aesop and Dinah were the first to notice them, so they made their way to them.

"And how's my most troublemaker student doing these days?" Dinah asked with a teasing grin, trying to peak over the blankets in Sebastian's arms.

"She's talking to you, love," Sebastian told MC.

MC scoffed and Dinah rolled her eyes.

"I'm certainly talking to you Sebastian," the old witch said. "I have to admit sometimes I miss you in my classroom but not in the castle in general."

Sebastian feigned hurt and looked at Aesop for help when it was clear MC was not going to step in.

"I understand the feeling all to well, Dinah," Aesop shrugged carelessly, glancing at the red head on the other side of the room. "I can't believe we have to see them in this reunions. How Eleazar does it is anyone's guess."

"Aw please you all love us," MC teased. "I bet you do miss us. Tha castle must be boring if the new generations don't break the rules as often."

"With ideas like that? We don't," Matilda added with a tired sigh and a warm smile. "How are you doing? Is this the new Sallow?"

"Ah yes, quit distracting us," Dinah frowned. "When are you introducing your baby?"

"Unless you expect us to wait until they're eleven," Aesop said sarcastically.

"She," MC clarified, blushing. "I was actually- I wanted to talk to Eleazar first. Grandparent privileges and all."

Dinah, much like Sebastian earlier, feigned a hurt wince and even put her free hand over her chest.

"Sebastian, what about me?"

Sebastian chuckled and Aesop shooed them off with an eye roll.

"He was in the kitchen the last time I saw him," Matilda said. "Ignore Dinah. She's had a bit too much to drink I think."

"Nah, she's fine," Sebastian grinned. "But I wasn't the one carrying this cutie pie for nine months. So, mom's the boss. For now," he added in a whisper.

"I heard that!" MC called over her shoulder.

Sebastian snickered and followed her through the crowd, avoiding their closest friends and the nosiest people. Sebastian was surprised when he noticed Ominis in a corner talking to Poppy. Now he was even more excited to show off his little girl. He'd put her in his best friends arms and call him godfather before he could protest.

The kitchen was more quiet. Eleazar was standing near the oven, whispering something to the house elf guarding whatever it was in there.

"And when they arrive I want the other elves to bring out the cake," Eleazar continued. "Champagne too, although I'm not sure if she's allowed to drink while breast feeding. Maybe champagne isn't a good idea."

"Eli! Don't talk about me breast feeding with the elves!" MC cried, red as a tomato.

Eleazar spun around so fast he almost toppled over the elf behind him. Said elf looked at MC with fear and pulled on his ears.

"The cake is not ready yet, Misus!"

"Don't worry about the cake," MC waved him off. "Eli, tell your elf to stop punishing himself and come meet your granddaughter."

Eleazar looked stunned and Sebastian giggled into the blankets that covered his daughter. MC sighed fondly and took one of Eleazar's hands to pull him close to them.

"Seb," she asked.

Sebastian straightened up, like a proud parent, and offered his baby to the man that saved MC all those years ago.

"Meet Miriam Anne Sallow, Eli," MC introduced softly.

Eleazar was staring at the baby in awe and he jolted at hearing the name. He glanced at MC and Sebastian, the stunned expression not leaving his face. Sebastian nodded knowingly and offered a warm smile.

"She's beautiful, MC," Eleazar whispered, tearing up when baby Miriam grinned gummily up at him. "Looks exactly like you."

"Well, that's the Sallow hair," MC winced. "And she could have freckles."

"Babe," Sebastian took her fidgeting hand. "Accept the compliment. She's as beautiful as her mom and everyone can see it."

MC blushed, not as hard as before, and nodded.

"I'm proud of you," Eleazar finished, giving back the baby to her dad who welcomed her into his arms excitedly. "You're doing great."

MC hugged Eleazar while Sebastian jumped from one foot to the other. MC laughed.

"Go show Ominis, Seb."

Sebastian didn't need to be told twice. He left father-daughter in the kitchen while he took his own daughter to meet her godfather.

#hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow #hogwarts legacy mc #eleazar fig #sebastian sallow x mc #hogwarts legacy fic

[ladykissingfish]

Deidara: If we ever have a daughter some day, let’s name her Dinah, hm.

Sasori: Why Dinah?

Deidara: So that we could take her up on one of my clay birds.

Sasori: I don’t understand, what does —

Deidara: Oh come on, Danna, hm! Haven’t you ever wanted to see a Dinah soar?

Sasori:

Sasori: The naming of our children is no longer entrusted to you.

#sasodei #sasori x deidara #sasori #deidara #naruto #the akatsuki #i thought it was clever Dei 🤷🏽‍♀️ #❤️💛

[jpbjazz]

LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

LEROY JENKINS, VIOLONISTE DE FREE JAZZ

‘’Our music was a result of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. And we prided ourselves on taking it further, because we studied Cage, and Xenakis, and Schoenberg, and all those guys. They were the ones who broke away from the old way in classical music, so we had to study them to see how we could break away."

- Leroy Jenkins

Né le 11 mars 1932 à Chicago, en Illinois, Leroy Jenkins était issu d’une famille pauvre. Jenkins avait passé son enfance dans un appartement de trois chambres du South Side avec sa mère, sa soeur, deux tantes, et à l’occasion, un chambreur. Jenkins, qui avait été mis en contact avec la musique dès son plus jeune âge, avait raconté plus tard avoir écouté Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie et des chanteurs comme Billy Eckstine et Louis Jordan durant sa jeunesse.

Jenkins était âgé de sept ans lorsqu’une de ses tantes avait apporté à la maison un ami de coeur qui jouait du violon. Après avoir entendu le petit ami de sa tante jouer une danse hongroise plutôt difficile à exécuter, Jenkins avait demandé à sa mère de lui acheter un violon. Jenkins s’était finalement retrouvé avec une violon miniature de couleur rouge de marque Montgomery Ward d’une valeur de vingt-cinq dollars. Après avoir commencé à prendre des leçons, Jenkins s’était produit dès l’âge de dix ans à la St. Luke's Church, une des plus grandes églises baptistes de la ville, où il avait été accompagné au piano par Ruth Jones, la future Dinah Washington. Jenkins s’était éventuellement joint à la chorale et à l’orchestre de la Ebenezer Baptist Church, qui était dirigé par le Dr. O. W. Frederick, qui l’avait initié à la musique de compositeurs de couleur comme William Grant Still et Will Marion Cook. Multi-instrumentiste, Jenkins avait également appris à jouer de la clarinette, du saxophone alto, du basson et de la viole durant son enfance.

À l’adolescence, Jenkins avait étudié au légendaire DuSable High School, où il avait troqué le violon pour la clarinette et le saxophone alto, car l’école n’avait pas d’orchestre, ce qui limitait ses possibilités de jouer du violon. Au DuSable High School, Jenkins avait étudié sous la direction du célèbre ‘’capitaine’’ Walter Dyett, jouant notamment du basson et de la clarinette avec le groupe de concert de l’école.

Après avoir obtenu son diplôme, Jenkins avait décroché une bourne pour étudier à l’Université Florida A&M, où il avait décroché un baccalauréat en composition et en violon classique. Jenkins avait également fréquenté la Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University à Tallahassee, en Floride, où il avait étudié le basson. Parallèlement à ses études, Jenkins avait également obtenu un revenu d’appoint en jouant du saxophone dans les clubs locaux.

Après avoir décroché un diplôme en éducation en 1961, Jenkins s’était installé à Mobile, en Alabama, où il avait enseigné la musique (et plus particulièrement les instruments à cordes) dans un high school durant quatre ans.

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Au milieu des années 1960, Jenkins était rentré à Chicago où il avait obtenu un emploi dans le système d’éducation public. Peu après, Jenkins avait assisté à un événement de l’Association for the Advancement of the Contemporary Musicians (AACM) mettant en vedette la musique du saxophoniste Roscoe Mitchell. Participaient également au concert Maurice McIntyre, Charles Clark, Malachi Favors, Alvin Fielder et Thurman Barker. Jenkins s’était rappelé plus tard avoir été à la fois confus et excité à l’idée de participer à une improvisation collective avec son violon. Jenkins avait alors commencé à participer à des répétitions dirigées par Muhal Richard Abrams. Il expliquait:  "it was something different, something where I could really be violinistic... I discovered that I would be able to play more of my instrument and I wouldn't have to worry about the cliches... I found out that I could really soar, I found out how I could really play." Jenkins avait continuer de répéter et de se produire avec le groupe durant quatre ans.

Jenkins avait fait ses débuts sur disque sur l’album d’Abrams ‘’Levels and Degrees of Light’’ en 1967. À la même époque, Jenkins avait commencé à jouer en trio avec les membres de l’AACM Anthony Braxton et Leo Smith, avec qui il avait enregistré l’album ‘’3 Compositions of New Jazz’’ en 1968. Abrams avait également participé à l’enregistrement. L’année suivante, le trio de Jenkins s’était installé à Paris et avait commencé à jouer avec le batteur Steve McCall avec qui il avait formé un groupe appelé Creative Construction Company. À l’époque, McCall était déjà établi en Europe depuis quelques années.

Durant son séjour à Paris, Jenkins s’était produit avec une vaste gamme de musiciens, dont Archie Shepp, Philly Joe Jones, Alan Silva (avec qui il avait enregistré l’album ‘’Luna Surface’’) et Ornette Coleman. À un certain moment, Coleman avait organisé un concert conjoint avec la Creative Construction Company, l’Art Ensemble of Chicago de Roscoe Mitchell et son propre groupe. À la même époque, Jenkins avait également collaboré à un album de Braxton intitulé ‘’B-Xo/N-0-1-47a’’ sur étiquette BYG Actuel.

En 1970, Jenkins avait quitté Paris et était retourné à New York où il avait fondé le Revolutionary Ensemble. Le groupe, qui avait enregistré un total de sept albums, avait également fait des tournées en Amérique du Nord et en Europe.

Jenkins avait expliqué plus tard qu’il avait quitté Paris parce qu’il se sentait mal à l’aise avec le fait qu’il ne parlait pas français. À son arrivée à New York, Jenkins avait repris contact avec Coleman. Il avait même vécu durant quelques mois dans le loft du saxophoniste appelé Artists House. Jenkins précisait: "We stayed downstairs... It was cold down there, where we slept. Ornette gave us a mattress but he didn't realize how cold it was." Devenu le mentor de Jenkins, Coleman l’avait présenté à plusieurs musiciens qui fréquentaient son loft (les lofts étaient d’importants lieux d’improvisation particulièrement actifs à New York à l’époque). Outre Coleman, Jenkins avait également été très influencé par John Coltrane et Charlie Parker.

Parallèlement, Jenkins avait continué de répéter et de jouer avec la Creative Construction Company, ce qui avait donné lieu à la présentation d’un concert à la "Peace Church" de Greenwich Village le 19 mai 1970. Le concert, qui mettait également en vedette Abrams et le contrebassiste Richard Davis, avait été enregistré par Coleman avant d’être publié en deux volumes par les disques Muse. Chacun des deux albums comprenait une composition de Jenkins.

À la suite du concert, Braxton s’était joint au groupe de free jazz de Chick Corea, Circle. En 1971, Jenkins avait fondé le Revolutionary Ensemble avec le contrebassiste et tromboniste Sirone (pseudonyme de Norris Jones) et le percussionniste et pianiste Jerome Cooper. Le groupe avait poursuivi ses activités durant six ans. Parmi les albums du groupe, on remarquait le disque éponyme Revolutionary Ensemble, également connu sous le titre de ‘’Vietnam’’ (mars 1972), qui comprenait une longue jam session de 47 minutes qui visait à démontrer toute l’horreur de la guerre. Le groupe avait enchaîné en décembre de la même année avec ‘’Manhattan Cycles’’ avant de récidiver trois ans plus tard avec ‘’The Psyche’’ qui comprenait une composition de chacun des membres du groupe. Également publié en décembre 1975, l’album ‘’Ponderous Planets on The People's Republic’’ avait expérimenté avec différentes textures. Si Jenkins jouait à la fois de violon, de la viole, du piano et de la flûte sur l’album, Sirone avait alterné entre la contrebasse, les percussions et le trombone tandis que Jerome Cooper avait utilisé plusieurs techniques de percussion. L’album ‘’Ponderous Planets on The People's Republic’’ est aujourd’hui considéré comme un classique.

À la même époque, sous l’influence du Jazz Composers' Orchestra de Carla Bley et Michael Mantler, Jenkins avait assemblé une formation tout-étoile composée d’Anthony Braxton, de Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, de Dewey Redman, de Leo Smith, de Joseph Bowie (le frère du trompettiste de l’Art Ensemble of Chicago, Lester Bowie) de David Holland, de Jerome Cooper, de Charles Shaw et de Sirone dans le cadre de l’enregistrement de l’album ‘’For Players Only’’ (janvier 1975).

Après la dissolution du groupe Revolutionary Ensemble en 1977, Jenkins avait fait une tournée aux États-Unis et en Europe. En 1979, Jenkins avait formé le Mixed Quintet, un groupe composé de Jenkins au violon et à la viole, de Marty Ehrlich à la clarinette basse, de J. D. Parran à la clarinette, de James Newton à la flûte et de John Clark au cor français.  

En janvier 1975, Jenkins avait publié ‘’Swift Are the Winds of Life’’ un album en duo avec l’ancien batteur et percussionniste de John Coltrane, Rashied Ali. 

Au début et au milieu des années 1970, Jenkins avait également joué et enregistré avec des musiciens aussi diversifiés qu’Alice Coltrane, Cecil Taylor (1970), Anthony Braxton (1969-72), Don Cherry, Carla Bley, Albert Ayler, Grachan Moncur III, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Paul Motian, Cal Massey, Dewey Redman et Archie Shepp.

À la fin des années 1970, Jenkins avait joué et enregistré avec le pianiste et compositeur Anthony Davis et le batteur Andrew Cyrille. Au début de la décennie suivante, Jenkins avait formé le groupe de fusion Sting, une formation largement influencée par le blues qui comprenait deux violonistes (Jenkins et Terry Jenoure), deux guitaristes (Brandon Ross à la guitare électrique et James Emery à la guitare acoustique amplifiée), un bassiste électrique (Alonzo Gardner) et un batteur (Kamal Sabir). Un des meilleurs albums du groupe était ‘’Urban Blues’’ (janvier 1984), un disque qui offrait un mélange plutôt inusité de funk, d’avant-garde, de pop, de gospel, de rhythm & blues et de hip-hop.

En 1981, Jenkins avait publié l’album double ‘’Beneath Detroit’’ avec le New Chamber Jazz Quintet. L’album mettait en vedette Spencer Barefield à la guitare classique douze cordes et à la harpe africaine, Faruq Bey au saxophone ténor, Anthony Holland aux saxophones alto et soprano, Jaribu Shahid à la contrebasse et Tani Tabbal à la batterie, aux percussions et au balafon.

À la même époque, en plus de s’être classé en bonne position dans les sondages des lecteurs et des critiques de Down Beat et de Jazz Magazine, Jenkins avait décroché plusieurs bourses et commandes du  New York State Council on the Arts, de la New York Foundation for the Arts, de la Fondation Rockefeller, de Meet the Composer, de Mutable Music et du National Endowment for the Arts (1973, 1974, 1978, 1983 et 1986). Durant cette période, Jenkins avait aussi reçu de commandes d’organismes prestigieux comme le Kronos Quartet, le Brooklyn Philharmonic, le New Music Consort, le Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, du Lincoln Center Out of Doors, de l’Albany Symphony et du Cleveland Chamber Symphony Orchestra.

DERNIÈRES ANNÉES

Les années 1980 et 1990 avaient été plutôt difficiles pour Jenkins, qui avait commencé à avoir des difficultés à se trouver des contrats pour la première fois de sa carrière. Comme Jenkins l’avait expliqué au cours d’une entrevue accordée au magazine Village Voice, le milieu du jazz était devenu beaucoup plus conservateur, ce qui avait laissé beaucoup moins de place pour le jazz d’avant-garde. Il précisait:

"Wynton Marsalis was in, and people started talking about going back to classic jazz. We couldn't play in clubs. As soon as we'd walk in, the jazz guys, the beboppers, would walk out. We'd come in and make a big sound, and they didn't go for it. They'd say, 'Oh, the noisemakers.' They wanted chord changes. Our music was a result of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. And we prided ourselves on taking it further, because we studied Cage, and Xenakis, and Schoenberg, and all those guys. They were the ones who broke away from the old way in classical music, so we had to study them to see how we could break away."

À la fin des années 1980, Jenkins avait quand même réussi à enregistrer et à participer à des tournées avec le quintet de Cecil Taylor, même si les choses n’étaient décidément plus ce qu’elles étaient.

Même s’il n’avait presque plus enregistré au milieu des années 1980 et au début des années 1990 et qu’il avait presque abandonné le jazz pour se consacrer à la composition de musique classique, Jenkins avait été très actif dans le Composers Forum, un groupe de pression de New York. Au cours de cette période, Jenkins s’était également produir en duo avec le saxophoniste Joseph Jarman de l’Art Ensemble of Chicago.

À la même époque, Jenkins avait continué de démontrer ses talents d’improvisateur, notamment dans le cadre de son album ‘’Solo’’ (1998), un enregistrement sans accompagnement dans lequel il avait revisité les oeuvres de John Coltrane et de Dizzy Gillespie. Il ne s’agissait pas du premier album solo de Jenkins, qui avait déjà publié en janvier 1977 un album live intitulé Solo Concert, qui avait été suivi en juillet 1978 de l’album ‘’Legend of Ai Glatson.’’ Jenkins avait également publié d’autres enregistrements en solo sur l’album ‘’Santa Fe’’ en octobre 1992.

Parmi les albums néo-classiques de Jenkins, on remarquait ‘’Lifelong Ambitions’’ (mars 1977) avec Muhal Richard Abrams, une improvisation électronique de vingt et une minutes avec Richard Teitelbaum et George Lewis aux synthétiseurs dans le cadre de l’album ‘’Space Minds/ New Worlds/ Survival America’’ (septembre 1978), le Quintet No 3 pour violon, cor français, clarinette et clarinette basse (enregistré avec Marty Ehrlich), l’album ‘’Mixed Quintet’’ (mars 1979) et la pièce ‘’Free at Last’’ publiée sur l’album ‘’Straight Ahead/ Free at Last’’ (septembre 1979) mettant en vedette le violoncelliste Abdul Wadud.

Toujours dans les années 1990, Hans Werner Henze, le directeur artistique du Munich Biennial New Music Theatre Festival, avait chargé Jenkins de composer un danse-opéra intitulé ‘’Mother of Three Sons’’ (1991), une oeuvre qui faisait une sorte de synthèse entre les danses africaines, le jazz d’avant-garde et le folklore d’origine africaine. L’oeuvre, qui racontait l’histoire d’une femme qui tentait de donner naissance à des fils parfaits en copulant avec les dieux, s’appuyait sur la collaboration du chorégraphe et réalisateur Bill T. Jones et de la livrettiste Ann T. Greene. L’oeuvre, qui avait été présentée en grande première à Aachaen en Allemagne en 1990, avait également été interprétée par le New York City Opera en 1991 et le Houston Grand Opera l’année suivante.

Jenkins avait poursuivi son exploration de la musique classique dans les années 1990 et 2000 avec des oeuvres comme ‘’Fresh Faust’’ (1994), un opéra de jazz-rap (dans lequel il revisitait la légende de Faust) qu’il avait composé pour l’Institute of Contemporary Art de Boston, et ‘’The Negro Burial Ground’’ (1996), une cantate produite par la troupe The Kitchen et qui avait été présentée par l’Université du Massachusetts à Amsherst. Basée sur un livret d’Ann T. Greene, l’oeuvre traitait de la pierre tombale d’un esclave du 18e siècle qui avait été découverte en 1991 sur une propriété de Wall Street. Parmi les autres oeuvres majeures de Jenkins, on remarquait ‘’Editorio - The Three Willies’’ (1996), un opéra multimédia qui avait été présenté au Painted Bride de Philadelphie ainsi que ‘’Coincidents’’, un opéra basé sur un livret de Mary Griffin. L’oeuvre avait été présentée à la Roulette de New York.

Même s’il enregistrait beaucoup moins, Jenkins avait fait paraître d’autres albums dans les années 1990, dont ‘’Themes and Improvisations on the Blues’’ (1992), qui mettait en vedette des cordes, des cuivres, de la contrebasse et du piano sur quatre pièces. En 1993, Jenkins avait enchaîné avec un album en concert intitulé ‘’Leroy Jenkins Live!’’ qui comprenait à la fois une section rythmique traditionnelle et des synthétiseurs.

À la même époque, Jenkins avait également participé à une réunion du Revolutionary Ensemble. En 1998, Jenkins avait enregistré avec le multi-instrumentiste Joseph Jarman de l’Art Ensemble og Chicago l’album ‘’Out of the Mist’’, un enregistrement qui combinait la musique africaine et asiatique au jazz, en passant par la musique classique européenne contemporaine. Par la suite, Jenkins avait prolongé sa collaboration avec Jarman en formant le trio Equal Interest avec la pianiste Myra Melford. Le groupe avait publié un album éponyme en 2000 qui refétait les intérêts de chacun de ses membres. Le critique du magazine Down Beat, James Hale, avait écrit au sujet de cet album:  "Jarman's devotion to Buddhism dovetails with Melford's interest in music for the harmonium, while Jenkins thrives on developing thematic patterns that span musical cultures from East Asia to Appalachia. Together, the three create music that defies categorization beyond the beauty and humanity that suffuse all of it."

En 2004, Jenkins avait formé le groupe Driftwood, un quartet qui comprenait Min Xiao-Fen au pipa, Denman Maroney au piano et Rich O'Donnell aux percussions. Le groupe avait publié l’album ‘’The Art of Improvisation’’ en octobre de la même année. En 2005, Jenkins avait retrouvé le Revolutionary Ensemble avec qui il avait publié deux albums live: ‘’The Boundary of Time’’ (mai 2005) et ‘’Counterparts’’ (novembre 2005). Le groupe avait publié son dernier album studio en juin 2004. Intitulé ‘’And Now’’, l’album comprenait une composition de vingt et une minutes du batteur Jerome Cooper.

Au cours de sa carrière, Jenkins avait collaboré et fait des tournées avec de nombreux chorégraphes. Il avait également fondé un groupe d’improvisation basé sur la World Music. En 2004, Jenkins avait été lauréat d’une bourse de la Fondation Guggenheim. Il avait aussi joué comme musicien-résident dans plusieurs universités américaines, dont les universités Duke, Carnegie Mellon, Williams, Brown, Harvard et Oberlin. Également professeur, Jenkins avait enseigné la musique dans un high school de Mobile, en Alabama, de 1961 à 1965, puis dans les écoles de Chicago de 1965 à 1969.

Leroy Jenkins est mort d’un cancer du poumon à New York le 24 février 2007. Il était âgé de soixante-quatorze ans. Au moment de sa mort, Jenkins travaillait sur deux nouveaux opéras: une histoire du quartier South Side de Chicago, et ‘’Minor Triad’’, un drame musical sur les artistes de jazz Paul Robeson, Lena Horne et Cab Calloway. Jenkins vivait à Brooklyn au moment de son décès. Jenkins laissait dans le deuil son épouse Linda Harris et sa fille Chantille Kwintana. Le dernier membre survivant du groupe Revolutionary Ensemble, le batteur Jerome Cooper, est mort en 2015.

Influencé par plusieurs styles musicaux allant de la musique afro-américaine au bebop en passant par la musique classique européenne, Leroy Jenkins, qui avait été un des principaux leaders du  jazz d’avant-garde durant quatre décennies, n’avait jamais cessé de se réinventer. Comme l’avait déclaré un critique du San Francisco Chronicle, "Jenkins is a master who cuts across all categories." Au cours de sa carrière, Jenkins avait publié une douzaine d’albums sous son propre nom.

©-2024, tous droits réservés, Les Productions de l’Imaginaire historique

SOURCES:

‘’Leroy Jenkins.’’ Wikipedia, 2024.

‘’Leroy Jenkins Biography.’’ Net Industries, 2024.

RATLIFF, Ben. ‘’Leroy Jenkins, 74, Violinist Who Pushed Limits of Jazz, Dies.’’ New York Times, 26 février 2007.

SCARUFFI, Pierro. ‘’Leroy Jenkins.’’ Piero Scaruffi, 2006.

#jazz

[aboutzatanna]

Still annoyed by how the latter half of JLD portrayed Zee as an incompetent leader who made some  outright dumbass decisions while in charge.   

As a palate cleanser, here are some tidbits from Justice League of America Vol 1  Annual #1 written by Paul Levitz and Len Wein and pencilled by Rick Hoberg and her decisions weren’t disastrous.

This was from the period where Zee was elected chairwoman of the League: 

Oh hey look, it’s Commissioner Gordon on the Watchtower, you don’t see that every day. What could he be there for?   

(This is from the period where Batman left the League to form the Outsiders but given that he formed the Outsiders to do *more* crime fighting, the fact that Gordon had to go to the League because he couldn’t get in touch with Batman is doubly ironic.)  

Also, pretty cool how Gordon is known and respected even by the JLA.   

So Zee splits the team into groups and they go investigate the missing artists. Not everyone is too keen on her calling the shots though:  

Why Ollie? Why? Sadly, Ollie doesn’t do much in this annual besides whining and being a jerk.  

But turns out she was right and it turns out Destiny is pulling out nightmares from artists brain and materializing them in to the real world.   

Diana on the other hand, is more supportive Zee’s decisions:  

Oh hey look! It’s John Stewart!   

John teaming up with the League during the Satellite era was rare but always welcome. As a DCAU fan, he will always by *my* Green Lantern.      

After confirming Destiny’s involvement, Zatanna, Red Tornado and Elongated Man chase him into the Dreaming (a much less exciting place before Neil Gaiman joined DC):    

One of the main sub plots of the annual is Zee’s sometimes mentor/detective Ralph having a crisis of confidence:    

Zatanna summons the rest of the League and they head to confront Destiny at his HQ:  

Also shout out to penciller Rick Hoberg here; the League is flying or running towards their target but he gives each member a distinct pose that reflects their personality. Zatanna and the Hawks are soaring through the air while John and Red Tornado are darting through the air laser focused on their target while Firestorm’s pose falls somewhere in the middle.  (Also it’s funny how the Atom is on Firestorm’s shoulder seemingly rooting for him to go faster.)  Even the running poses are different from each other; Flash’s pose looks like a homage to his debut comic cover, Diana is more casual while Aquaman looks more determined whilst Ollie looks like he is oogling Dinah who seems to be doing her best to ignore him.   

The League takes the fight to Dr Destiny’s HQ but it doesn’t go as planned:  

He defeats the League in a way that makes me think the League all probably collectively agreed to never speak of again:  

  “So how did Destiny take down all of you again?”

“Giant monster.”

“Yep, giant monster.” 

“He had big fangs.”

“Don’t forget the horns.”

“And the spikes.”

“Practically untouchable.” 

“It was too powerful for us to even comprehend!”

(I’m also going to head canon this as Destiny having more power in the Dreaming.)

Unbeknownst to him however, Ralph has managed to free the original Jack Kirby Sandman, Garret Sanford.  Side note: He is the guy who passed the mantle to Hector Hall who was the Sandman who was being manipulated by Brute and Glob before being “freed” by Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.    

Destiny’s characterization here; his hatred for the League, unable to dream which in turn turned him into a withering husk because of it and usurping the power of Sandman has echoes of his story arc in Gaiman’s Sandman. The latter was more impactful but I wonder if he drew inspiration from this annual?   

Sandman calls in the cavalry in the form of Superman

and takes on Dr Destiny again and in probably one of the funniest moment of this annual:   

So how did they escape?  

Ralph: The MVP.   

Later, the League offers membership to Sandman who turns it down.  Also, turns out Superman’s dreams are special:   

So there you have it; Zee was a competent chairman, Ralph got his confidence back by being the MVP, John Stewart finally got some lime light  and Superman dreams about ~peace~.    

Honestly, wouldn’t mind a variation of this story but with the League meeting Morpheus.    

#zatanna #zatanna zatara #elongated man #ralph dibny #dr destiny #john dee #john stewart #green lantern #jim gordon #commissioner james gordon #sandman #garret sandford #green arrow #oliver queen #superman #clark kent #wonder woman #diana #diana of themyscira #aquaman #arthur curry #red tornado #justice league #justice league of america #paul levitz #len wein #neil gaiman #rick hoberg #zee leads

[docgold13]

365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

September 24th - Mister Immortal 

When Craig Hollis was just a child he had an imaginary friend name D’urg who would often visit him.  This friend told Craig that he could never die, that the youngster was immortal.  This led young Craig taking numerous, highly dangerous risks.  Later in life, Craig discovered that this friend was not imaginary at all but was rather a specter of death and agent of oblivion known as ‘Deathurge.’  This entity had befriended Craig because he was like him.  Craig was born cursed with eternal life, made this way by Oblivion so that he could witness the end of time and through his experiences potentially provide answers about the meaning of existence.  

As Craig grew older he found that was indeed immortal; he could not die nor could he be injured and even if his entire form was disintegrated it would immediately re-manifest.  Around his mid-twenties, Craig stopped physically aging.  The prospect of an eternal life watching everyone he cares about age and die drove Craig into a deep depression.  After years spent trying to drown his sorrows in alcohol, Craig decided to try to do something productive with his immortality.  As such he placed an advertisement in the local newspaper seeking out costumed adventurers.  This ultimately led to the formation of the Great Lakes branch of The Avengers.  

Now calling himself ‘Mr. Immortal,’ the team Craig put together consisted of the Mutant heroes, Flatman, Big Bertha and Doorman along with the mysterious pterodactyl-like woman, Dinah Soar.  Squirrel Girl and The Grasshopper would also join the squad later on.

A version of Mr. Immortal features in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in the Disney+ series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and portrayed by actor, David Pasquesi.  The hero first appeared in West Coast Avengers Vol. 2 #46 (1989).

#365 Marvel Comics Heroes #Mr. Immortal #Great Lakes Avengers #she hulk: attorney at law #David Pasquesi #cut-out #paper art

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Alt Ending, Part 10

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@solangelo252 @animegirlweeb @frieddonutsweets

Marinette stared at the woman in the doorway silently.

A woman with light hair (blonde? Marinette’s vision was still tinted green so it was hard to tell, but definitely very light) with the same general height and build as Harley, working as a psychiatrist. How was she supposed to not tense up? How was she supposed to keep her face neutral when she felt like her heart was trying its best to beat out of her chest and run into the arms of the woman that couldn’t be Harley and yet reminded her painfully of the woman she missed more than anything.

She felt someone nudge her forward and glanced back to try and find the culprit, but everyone was looking at her with equal amounts of concern. She couldn’t tell which one of them she should be glaring at.

She sighed to herself and turned back to the woman. She eyed her carefully before sticking her non-broken hand out. “Hi, Miss, it’s nice to meet you. I’m…”

Ladybug? NightMare?

Darlin’?

She felt sick all of a sudden. She swallowed down bile and forced a smile. “Marinette.”

The woman smiled as if the hesitance to say her own name was completely normal – maybe it was, considering how paranoid the other bats were when it came to their identities – and shook the offered hand. “Please, Dinah is fine.”

Not Harley, then. Her shoulders slumped just slightly. Harley would have allowed her to call her ‘Miss’, that was what Marinette had called her during her entire duration as NightMare. She had never had a problem with it.

An arm looped itself around her shoulders and she jumped just slightly, jerking to look at Cass. Cass squeezed her.

Dinah clapped her fingers together with a cheery smile. “Okay, Bruce has given me a rundown of all of your situations, so I don’t have to worry about trying to use a family therapy session to get you all to out each other’s problems.”

Is that allowed?

“I’m going to start with Marinette here. Since her mental health got bad enough for Bruce to try therapy, I’m going to assume she’s got the most pressing problems at the moment.”

There was a collective nod. She scoffed quietly. Even if she DID have trauma (she didn’t), there was no way it could ever compare to the pure bullshit that the other bats had going on.

Still, when Dinah stepped to the side to give Marinette room to squeeze through the doorway, she did so without complaint.

The room was a stereotypical rich person’s living room. Too many couches, art pieces tastelessly lining the walls, a fireplace that looked like it had never been used, the family pictures on the mantle in gold-lined frames, not a speck of dirt to be seen… and, she noted absently, not a window in sight. Hm. She wondered if it was due to her specifically, or if Dinah was expecting someone to make a break for it at the very idea of expressing their emotions.

Marinette dropped onto the nearest couch, spread out until she could lay down on the comfortable cushions that she thought she might drown in, and then laced her fingers together on her stomach.

“So, doc, guess I gotta tell you about my feelings?” She said.

Dinah looked a little amused, her eyes crinkling at the corners, and Marinette tried to ignore the way her heart soared at the tiny chuckle that she had earned.

The woman took a seat on an armchair (heh, armchair psychologist), took a sip from a water bottle that sat on a needlessly tiny table, and then picked up the notepad and paper beside it. She flipped a few pages – Marinette could see the vague imprint of some words on the back of the pages, but she couldn’t read them from where she was – and then, upon finding whatever page she was looking for, she pulled a pen from where she had tucked it behind her ear.

Marinette tipped her head to the side. “What’s that say?”

Dinah mirrored the action, a tiny smile playing across her lips. “That Bruce thinks that Harley psychologically traumatized you –.”

She opened her mouth.

“– and that you don’t agree,” she continued before she could say anything. “Now, I’m going to entertain the thought that you were traumatized and decide for myself whether I believe it to be true.”

“Is it okay to be this honest as a therapist?” Marinette frowned.

“I don’t think any of you bats would trust me unless I told you everything,” Dinah sighed.

… fair enough.

“Okay. I’d like you to tell me about your childhood.”

“My childhood?” Marinette repeated dumbly. She had already had the normal spiel about what had happened in her months with the Rogues prepared, because that was ALWAYS what people asked about, but her childhood was…

“Tell me about your parents,” Dinah clarified, crossing one leg over the other.

Oh. Maybe she was trying to figure out why Bruce had ‘adopted’ her?

“Um… not much to say, really. My parents are nice people. I didn’t move out because of a fight or anything, I just wanted to fight crime – there was none of MY type of crime in Paris – and so I went to Gotham because I figured I’d have more to do there... er… they own one of the most popular bakeries in Paris. We lived just above the bakery… uh… I was upper-middle class to upper class…?” She shrugged lamely. She didn’t know what the woman wanted from her.

“Hm… and did you ever help out around the bakery?”

“All the time.”

Dinah was writing something.

Marinette felt the sudden need to defend her parents. “It was just the two of them running a super popular bakery. That’s a lot of stuff, obviously they need help, especially around the holidays.”

Dinah nodded and jotted down something else. Marinette hoped that she was crossing out whatever she had written before, but she doubted it.

“Now, your social life growing up. Who were your friends?”

“I was friends with everyone in my class, really,” shrugged Marinette. She sighed and rested a hand over her eyes. “I won a lot of popularity contest-type things. Y’know, like class rep.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “Must have been friends with a lot of people.”

“Mhmm. Like I said, everyone in my class was my friend... outside of Chloe, I guess.”

“Tell me about Chloe.”

She sighed. “Um… she was pretty annoying, but she got better once she figured out I was Ladybug. Apparently, she used to be a huge fan of me back in the day.”

“Okay…”

Dinah was writing something again. Marinette lifted her arm at the sound to watch. She tried to trace the pencil’s path to figure out what she was saying, but she couldn’t get much – Dinah’s handwriting was too small for her to accurately guess. She dropped her arm back over her eyes again dejectedly.

“Now, you used ‘was’ when talking about your friends. I’m assuming that means you aren’t friends anymore.”

Marinette winced. “Right. Uh, there was this girl… Lila. She lied all the time. Said she had all these famous friends that could get them things – connections, the word I’m looking for is connections – and then, when I figured out she was lying and tried to tell everyone, she decided that discrediting me was the way to go. And, well, her lies were prettier than my truths. It’s no surprise that they believed her.”

Dinah nodded slowly and, after jotting something else down, closed her notebook with a sigh.

Marinette found herself shocked once again. She didn’t want to know about her being Ladybug? She had assumed that was the next logical step… maybe Bruce suggested she shouldn’t ask about it? No, she didn’t seem all that interested in listening to him –.

“Okay, Marinette, I assume you want to know why I asked about your childhood?”

She nodded. Because, really, wasn’t she supposed to be there because Bruce was concerned about Harley?

“I figured that, if Harley were to traumatize you psychologically, it would be easier for her to go off of things that were already there. Joker would have needed results fast, and Harley lives to please him. That would have been the best way to go about it.”

Marinette supposed that made sense.

“She wouldn’t have had anything to exploit,” Marinette sighed. “I was an average girl with an average life – bar the Ladybug thing, of course.”

“That’s… not quite true.”

She uncovered her eyes so she could squint at her.

Dinah tipped her head to the side. “Marinette, describe yourself in one word.”

Marinette frowned at the fact that she evaded the silent question, but then turned her gaze to the ceiling. A word that described her… her English wasn’t as good as it could have been, her vocabulary was lacking in a lot of ways… but if she had to choose a word, it would have been:

“Helpful, I guess?”

The woman nodded. As if she had expected that.

“You have a pattern.”

Dinah tapped her pen against her notepad a few times, either to accentuate what she was about to say (which would have been dumb, Marinette couldn’t see anything from where she was) or to buy herself time to think.

“I think… you tend to see yourself in terms of your value to others. It probably started with helping your parents, got reinforced by helping your friends… even though being ‘class rep’ definitely has a lot to do with popularity, there had to be other people in your class that were popular, so you had to be at least somewhat good at your job in order to get that… you even implied, at least subconsciously, that part of the reason you lost your friends to Lila was because she pretended to have ‘connections’ – that she could provide them with something of value that you could not… and, with Chloe, you attribute the fact that she likes you now to the fact that you happen to be Ladybug, not to anything inherent to you as a person.”

Marinette stared blankly. “Anyone ever tell you you should be an English teacher? I think you’d be good at that.”

From the tiny downturn of her lips, Marinette was reasonably sure that Dinah had found the implied insult, but then she smiled. “Why? Because I was able to read between the lines?”

She gave her an unimpressed look.

Dinah sighed. “Okay. Let’s go back to what you would agree with and try and work our way to an understanding that way. You always end up being the helpful one in the friend group, it seems.”

“... obviously?” Marinette said, frowning. “Wouldn’t it be more concerning if I DIDN’T help my friends?”

“Not more concerning, just concerning in a different way,” Dinah shook her head. “Listen, your problem is that you do whatever other people ask you to do, put your loved one’s needs so far above your own that yours don’t even register as being on the same graph, and defend them whenever they wrong you.”

She opened and closed her mouth a few times like a fish. Were therapists usually this blunt?

Marinette pushed herself up to sit so she could give Dinah the scowl she deserved for the, frankly, weird morals she definitely had. “I’m a hero, I’m supposed to be selfless.”

“You don’t need to be a hero in your everyday life.”

“I mean… sure,” Marinette said carefully, though she disagreed. Her being an ‘everyday Ladybug’ was exactly what had convinced Master Fu to give her a miraculous. “But shouldn’t heroes be good people?”

“Being a good person isn’t the same as being a doormat.”

She frowned. “I’m not a doormat, just a good friend.”

Dinah looked like she disagreed but, instead of pursuing that further, she sighed and leaned back in the plush armchair she was sitting in. “Okay. I’ve heard from Bruce, but I’d like your rundown of what happened with Harley.”

Oh, thank god, something she had expected and prepared for, for a change.

Marinette yawned into her hand. “Right. They cut off my ears to get my comms, threw me in an acid vat, then locked me in a weird, white room for a while. In the room I alternated between being on fear gas, talking to Harley (and sometimes the other Rogues, but usually not), and being bored.”

For a while, Dinah was completely still. Marinette shifted awkwardly under her unblinking gaze and wondered whether she had said something wrong.

And then she tipped her head to the side with the slightest of smiles. “Almost word for word what Bruce had thought you would say,” she commented.

She relaxed a little. “I’ve had a lot of practice explaining to people.”

“I’m sure you have.” Dinah flipped open her notepad again and then sighed. “Okay, the last thing I’m going to ask about during this session is what happened after the bats got you back.”

“B didn’t tell you?”

“He did not.” The woman’s smile turned wry at the edges. “I have some theories as to why, but I want some confirmation.”

Marinette, briefly, wondered why Bruce hadn’t been comfortable telling Dinah. Wondered whether that meant that she should refrain from telling her anything as well. But hadn’t he told her before all of this that therapy only worked when you were entirely truthful? That she should tell Dinah whatever she believed to be the truth and let her go from there?

“Okay… well, I got caught while trying to get B, and because I was deemed ‘evil’ or whatever he used one of his weirdo contingencies.”

Dinah nodded slowly and prompted her to go on with a vague wave of her hand.

“My power, with that miraculous, was the ability to create portals… with the stipulation that I had to know where I was. So, he brought me to this one white room so I couldn’t get out.”

Dinah pressed her lips together thinly and, oh, she was MAD. But Marinette was pretty sure it wasn’t aimed at her so she continued listing off what happened, albeit slightly more carefully:

“I was there for a while. Duke and Damian decided that they wanted to try and bring me back to life with the Lazarus pit –.”

“You were dead?”

Whoops. She’d forgotten to mention that.

“Yeah. I didn’t get much food or water while with Harley, so…”

She glanced to the side, concentrated on The Pit thrumming in her veins. It wasn’t hard to find the soft whispers. They were always there, even when she wasn’t consciously thinking of them. Her eyes flicked to the pen in Dinah’s hand, to the sharp poker hidden among the fireplace tools, to the framed pictures that in a pinch could be broken for glass shards.

She wondered, idly, whether she could take Dinah in a fight. If she could, this was definitely the time to go after Bruce, right? She would have the element of surprise…

Green eyes flickered to ‘life’, acidic green light casting a strange glow over her features that, for a moment, seemed to make the bones that made up her skull visible beneath her skin.

Dinah seemed to pale, though Marinette wondered if it was really just her eyes playing tricks on her. After all, when viewed through green lenses, everyone looked rather lifeless.

If only, she thought, her mind wandering back to Bruce’s green face. It was just an illusion, she knew, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make it a reality, right?

… not right. Even if Marinette could beat Dinah (which she doubted, Bruce wouldn’t have gotten a therapist that he thought Marinette could easily escape), she would have to get through all of the other bats to even try and fight Bruce.

Frustrated tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Did she even want to kill Bruce? Could she even kill Bruce? She thought she had already figured out that the answer to both of these things were no, and yet her frustration gnawed at her as if the knowledge were still new.

“Marinette?” The woman asked cautiously and, oh, there were hands on her shoulders and a person was leaning close to her face.

She blinked and the light was gone and she was back to looking like any other girl – albeit one with startlingly green eyes.

“Are you back?” Asked the woman, her voice soft as she scrutinized her face carefully.

Marinette’s own voice didn’t seem to want to come out. She stared up at the woman in front of her that was looking down at her with concern in her eyes. The hands on her shoulders were the only thing stopping her from sinking into the couch beneath her and trying to drown within the plush fabric.

The woman removed a hand from her shoulder – Marinette made an embarrassing squeaking sound at the loss of contact – but then there was a bottled water being shoved into her hands and the hand was back, cupping her face.

“Drink some water, okay? We can continue when you feel ready again.”

Marinette blinked a few times before slowly, almost mechanically unscrewing the cap and taking a sip of the water. It was a big sip, apparently, because before her mind had processed it she had finished the bottle (god, her throat was still so DRY) and she wondered if the woman would get mad at her.

But the woman was gently running her thumb along her cheekbone and cooing things that Marinette’s frazzled mind could hardly decipher.

“Why?” Marinette breathed.

“Because I care about you, and want to comfort you,” said Dinah.

She stared up at her, eyes wide, and then found herself leaning forward. The woman tensed slightly as Marinette wrapped her arms around her, surprised, but then she was hugging back and Marinette couldn’t help but sink into her embrace.

She buried her face in her shoulder and wondered why, if this all felt so nice, did she want to cry?

~

It took a long time for Marinette to feel calm again.

She, somewhat reluctantly, detangled herself from where she had wrapped around the woman and allowed Dinah to walk back to her armchair.

“Do you know what set you off?”

She didn’t. Not really. The Pit had played a part in it, that she knew, but there was something else there that she could detect… but what good was the ability to detect something was wrong when you couldn’t tell what it was?

“Okay. What were you thinking about when you started feeling upset?”

Marinette stared at her hands. Murdering Bruce was the answer. She wasn’t all that fond of the idea of voicing the thought aloud, though.

Dinah sighed softly. “We can wait until you’re comfortable enough to talk about that. Would you like to get back on topic?”

“Yes,” Marinette said instantly. She was more than happy to be distracted.

Dinah checked her notepad and winced. “The last thing we were talking about was… you being held captive by Bruce...” Her expression darkened briefly. “... and the whole ‘dying’ thing and The Pit, but we can skip past that if you aren’t comfortable –.”

“Huh? It’s cool. I was mostly out of it for the entire time I was dehydrating and starving to death thanks to the fear gas. And my miraculous kept me from DYING dying, so it’s all good. I’m fine now.”

For the second time that day, Dinah’s disagreement was blatantly shown on her face, but she quietly asked her “Okay, what was next?”

“Er… after The Pit, I escaped in Tibet. Went on a murder spree for a while. Got caught again. Got locked up under one of Bruce’s safehouses in the city…” Marinette shrugged. “And now I’m here.”

“And now you’re here…” repeated Dinah, her voice soft. “Hold on for a minute, okay, sweetie?”

Marinette was too busy blushing at the endearment to respond in time. The woman pushed herself to her feet and all but stomped towards the door, fists curled at her sides.

“– but she was all ‘daddy, I love him!’ and he was like ‘I like him too, he has money!’” Jason was explaining, shaking his head. But, before Jason could explain more, the door banged against the wall.

The bats looked at Dinah questioningly, but her eyes locked on Bruce, who suddenly looked like he very much regretted being there.

Marinette blinked as Dinah grabbed Bruce by the collar of his shirt. She thought she had never seen him look as blatantly terrified as he did right then.

“You.. you…! I knew you had probably done something messed up, but are you SERIOUS?! You locked a child in a room immediately after she was kidnapped for months?! And you didn’t think that would have adverse effects on her mental health?!”

Bruce mumbled something. Marinette couldn’t hear very well, but it sounded like he might have said ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time…’

Whatever he had said, it made Dinah even angrier. You wouldn’t think that possible, and yet he managed.

… she should probably step in.

“To be fair, I was actively trying to murder him for a while. Also I’m…” Eighteen? Nineteen? Twenty? “... an adult.”

“That doesn’t excuse it!” Dinah said, shaking Bruce by his collar while he held his hands up in an attempt at being placating. “God, that was so… stupid!”

“Told you so,” murmured Tim, who was apparently unaware of the fact that it was definitely not the time.

Bruce shot him a glare out of the corner of his eyes.

Dinah turned to Marinette and, for a moment, her gaze softened. “Hey, sweetie, I’m gonna punch him but if you want to, too, you can. He deserves it.”

Her mind flickered to Harley, to the way she had promised Joker that she would get Marinette to kill Batman for him.

A shiver ran through Marinette. She was always cold, thanks to The Pit, this was completely unrelated to anything that was currently going on. Clearly.

Marinette opened her mouth to agree, but Dinah cut her off:

“Don’t want to? Alright, fine.”

And then she punched Bruce across the face.

#'ayo my life is going pretty well i guess i dont need this vent fic anymore' #i said #before immediately unlocking a new trauma in the middle of exam season #lmao #ooooooof #anyways enjoy me bullying marinette #she gets to form a new unhealthy attachment to a blonde woman #because she doesn't get to be happy when i'm not :) #she got a type tho #marinette pointing at any 5'7" blonde woman: that's mom shaped :) #alt ending #alternate ending #alternative ending #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #joker #harley quinn #harleen quinzel

[chetan742kaushik]

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[thewarriorspecial]

Greenhill High (CH1 - Dream Job)

*Archive Edition* Previously only linked to AO3, full work now available under the cut.

Read on AO3

Rating: Teen | Guy Gardner/Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Dinah Lance, Oliver Queen, Wally West, Katma Tui

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

A little something special for @hobicat!

Kyle Rayner just landed his dream job. He's the new Art Instructor at the brand new Greenhill High. His boss takes him around the campus and he meets one of the other faculty members.

Kyle’s grateful for the time Principal Lance has taken out of her day to show him around the enormous campus and help him get acclimated. For a small suburb outside of Star City, Greenhill boasted an enormous campus at its high school. 

He had felt trepidatious the day of his interview as he parked his Camry in the visitors lot located between a nine-hole golf course and a domed football stadium. Much like a luxury apartment complex, he had to be buzzed in by a security guard. When the big double doors opened, he entered a foyer that looked more like it belonged in a concert hall. The next set of doors were flanked by a box office and the guard station. When Kyle opened that second set of doors and saw the two million dollar theater he was floored. 

“Wow,” he breathed, looking at the ornate auditorium; still as striking as the first time he had seen it.

“Mr. Queen personally oversaw every detail. In a lot of ways, this is his school. That theater is his baby,” Principal Lance says proudly.

“Some kind of investment project?” Kyle asks, a bit suspicious.

“He’s invested in the students and their futures. We’ve lost a lot of small schools outside of the city. Some classrooms are cramming as many as sixty kids to a room. We’ve got room for them all here.” Principal Lance pauses, sharp eyes sweeping the gorgeous theater. A small group of students are following a middle aged instructor as he explains the complicated system of pulleys that control the movement of the curtains. “We’ll catch up with Mr. J’onzz during his office hours. Follow me.”

Kyle follows his new boss through the wide hallways, peeking into the large classrooms. Some are fairly spartan; rows of tables and seats, overhead projector, long stretches of dry erase boards. Other rooms are well stocked, colorful, inviting. It looks more like a private college than a public high school. 

“The uh, library is kinda small,” Kyle remarks. Principal Lance turns to the room with its short shelves and colorful carpets. The far corner is full of smiling, brightly colored stuffed animals. 

“Oh, that’s our Early Childhood Development center. Mr Harper brings children from elementary schools and even orphanages here for story time and puppet shows.”

“That’s really cool!” 

“I think you’ll be really happy here, Mr. Rayner.”

“You can call me Kyle.”

“I do insist on the formality. It helps the students build character,” Principal Lance smiles.

“Oh, right. Yes, ma’am.”

“Speaking of the events for our students, there is someone I’m excited to introduce you to. You’ll be working with Coach Gardner to develop your Art Therapy program.”

Kyle’s eyes widen and his heart soars. This must be a dream. “I’m sorry, Coach Gardner?”

“That’s right. Our football coach has a background in psychology. His experience and insights with individuals with behavioral support needs has been invaluable.”

“Oh, that’s awesome,” Kyle lies. He pictures some meathead jock trying to tell him what to do. He’s awash with memories of fistfights, stolen lunches, and slurs. 

They round the next corner and head down a long hallway. At the end, a set of large glass doors lets s good amount of sunlight in and Kyle can smell fresh cut grass. A blue sign on the wall indicates the locker room to the left and stadium seating to the right. Principal Lance’s cell phone rings. 

“Excuse me, Mr. Rayner I have to take this. Coach Gardner’s office is at the back of the locker room. Are you comfortable introducing yourself?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“So sorry, I’ll be just a moment.” Principal Lance ducks into one of the classrooms to answer her phone, leaving Kyle to stew. He looks down at his feet and sighs. He’s not the smallest sixth grader anymore and this guy has his job to think about too. Maybe he’s nice. Probably dumb, but everyone here has been really nice and focused on the kids so far. The job posting said Batchelor’s required but Master’s preferred so maybe he was one of those rare smart jocks. 

Kyle steels himself and pushes the door to the locker room open. No time like the present. As he enters, he hears two muffled voices and he stops. 

“Well, I don’t wanna freak ya out comma but, when ya let a cut like this go for tew long, ya actually can’t get stitches. So we’re gonna patch ya up. If ‘at bleedin’ don’t stop, we gotta take yew to a real hospital, okay?” a grown man’s voice speaks softly with an odd accent.

“I can’t,” says a child’s voice.

“Was’wrong? Scared? I’ll go with yew.”

“No, you don’t understand.”

“Wha’don’t I understan’, buddy? Yew know yew can tell me an’thin.” Kyle cringes. Is this guy trying to talk around a jawbreaker?

“They’re gonna ask questions, Guy. If I say too much, they’ll figure it out.” 

Kyle peers around the lockers. A stocky, thirty-something redhead is kneeling in front of a lanky young boy—maybe fifteen. A bloodstained towel rests on the bench where the boy is sitting. The redhead is cutting a length of gauze and wrapping it around the boy’s bloody knuckles. 

“Aw, you an’ Bobby been friends your whole lives,” Kyle parses out the man’s words around the accent, “He’s the smallest kid in your class. It’s not surprise you’d stick up for him.”

“Dad’s a cop. He’s gonna figure it out,” The boy shakes his head, “I can’t hide it from him forever. And I’m—I’m tired of hiding. I’m tired of fighting.”

“It’s a fight worth winning,” Guy says as he finishes taping the gauze down.

“You met him. You know how he is. What am I gonna do when he turns on me? What do I do when he finds out?”

Guy’s sky blue eyes snap up to meet the boy’s, his expression stern, “You come get me. No matter what happens, Tommy, you will always have me. And I know all too well how much it hurts to get the holy hell beat out of you by someone you love.” 

Tommy nods as he tests out his wrapped hand. “Alright.”

Guy pats the boy’s knee and stands up. “Let’s get you to Math on time today. If your grade goes any further down the shitter you’re gonna get pulled off the team.”

“But—”

“No buts. Go see Mr. Stewart about Calculus, he’ll get you straight.”

Tommy smiles, and that makes Guy smile.

“With Math. Now go on. We’ll see you at practice.”

Tommy jumps up from the bench and throws his arms around his Coach, “Thank you.”

Guy gives the boy a good squeeze, patting his shoulder, “Anytime, buddy.” 

The boy grabs his backpack and dashes out of the locker room.

Kyle waits a moment before stepping out and clearing his throat, “Hi, um, are you Coach Gardner?”

“The one and only,” the redhead crows as he spins around. He’s got a smile that lights up the whole room and Kyle is floored by the clear blue of his eyes. He grabs Kyle’s hand with one of his big paws and gives it a firm shake. Kyle feels dizzy. “And you’re…” Guy prompts, still wearing his friendly grin.

“Oh, uh,” Kyle can’t believe he has to think about his own name, “Kyle. Rayner. Mr. Rayner, I guess,” Kyle’s laugh sounds as awkward as it feels and he feels fifteen again; small and lost and stupid.

“I guess that makes me Guy, and you Kyle, and us partners then.”

“Sure,” Kyle smiles, “Partners.”

#*myfic #guykyle #my first au! #high school au #teachers instead of students!

[tomoleary]

Herb Trimpe and Jeff Albrecht - Avengers Annual 19, page 11 splash, featuring Iron Man, Sersei, Wonder Man, Machine Man, Starfox (Eros), Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), the Golden Age Human Torch and Dinah Soar.

#herb trimpe #Jeff Albrecht #avengers #avengers attack

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #309: To Find OLYMPIA!

November, 1989

Namor looks like he's got some negative things to say, in the zone.

And it is canon sometimes that the Negative Zone makes a person feel negative. Its the Bad Vibes Place.

I have no idea why dead Gilgamesh was drawn with the What's Going On He-Man face. Or why She-Hulk is in her Fantastic Four duds.

So, lets get into it.

Last times, in Avengers: Captain America held a meeting to declare that all the Avengers teams were one team and he was in charge of the Avengers. Also, the Avengers got kidnapped by Lava Men. And so did Namor. They were taken to the Last Lava Man, a priest called Jinku, who accused the Avengers of genociding the Lava Men, which they kinda sorta did do by killing a random demon named Cha'sa'dra during Inferno. The Avengers don't beat Jinku and the giant monster he summoned so much as run out the clock. Some of the dead Lava Men turned out to not be dead so much as incubating. They hatched into golden men and told Jinku to knock it off. Alas?, Gilgamesh got fatally slapped while fighting the lava monster and is now exceptionally dead. The Avengers take Gilgamesh to Sersi who can't help and suggests they take him to the Eternal city Olympia. Except Eternal Sprite managed to blow it up like ten minutes before they get there. The whole city.

Just a big, steaming crater now.

Thanks Sprite, you screw-up.

Sersi: "It is... gone! All of fabled Olympia! Snuffed out as a flickering candle flame! How can this be??"

Captain America tries to offer any help the Avengers can do. But Sersi just dramatically faints after psychically scanning for any trace of Olympia.

She murmurs about emptiness and enormity and the loneliness of endless space.

Such a dramatic person.

There's also a weird bit of choreography where Captain America caught Sersi when she fainted. So he's clearly not holding his shield. He tells She-Hulk to hold it for him but she's already holding it and must have grabbed it when he dropped it to pick up Sersi, since she's right behind him in that panel.

And she gives it right back to him as soon as he's put Sersi down.

So why was it necessary for Cap to tell She-Hulk to do something she was already doing? Did Byrne worry that the choreography wouldn't stand on its own?

Ah well.

The Avengers wonder if there's something wrong with the Eternals lately. Because, well, Gilgamesh is mostly dead despite being Eternal and the Lava Monster didn't hit him THAT hard.

Gilgamesh should have been able to heal himself, since all Eternals have the power of molecular manipulation over their own bodies.

Sersi drifts back to consciousness and explains that "all Eternals an sense the minds of all other Eternals no matter the range" so she tried reaching out.

She sensed them near but not on Earth.

Which Cap finds baffling. But Thor has an idea what she means.

Remember how his hammer used to be able to create dimensional portals and then it couldn't? Well, it can again.

He figures that near but far probably means another dimension. And he doesn't have to be precise. When all you have is a hammer, it helps if its a really, really cool hammer.

Thor just wills "let the powers that split the raging heavens now be focused here, into a single place, a single purpose... and let any barrier betwixt us and Olympia... be SUNDERED!"

And bippity boppity boo, a portal is opened through.

To the Negative Zone, apparently. Well, the cover spoiled that. You're not special for realizing it on sight, She-Hulk.

Sersi confirms that Thor hit the nail on the head. In the Negative Zone she can indeed sense Olympia.

She-Hulk: "In the Negative Zone? But... how the heck did it get there? I thought the only access was through the portal in the Fantastic Four's headquarters." Thor: "Nay, green one. That is but one way to reach this parallel dimension. Mjolnir hath opened this small gateway by drawing on the residual energies of whatever force dispatched Oympia hence."

Namor says that the time for discussion is over. If Olympia is in the Negative Zone, the only hope for Gilgamesh will be to find it.

Sersi agrees.

Sersi: "We must go now where Olympia has gone... into the Negative Zone!"

"Meanwhile, elsewhere" we check back in on old guy who blew up his own house subplot.

Professor Harker takes the blueprints for his fantabulous new invention to the Polydyne company and blows them away!

A guy in a tie: "It's absolutely amazing! Something like this is going to make cold fusion seem as antiquated as rubbing two sticks together! Why... the kind of power that could be harnessed from a single such device would be enough to supply the needs of the whole world for centuries!"

Professor Harker himself prefers to think of it as more the power to re-shape the whole universe maybe. But the Polydyne peeps warn him the money men won't understand that so maybe stick with the 'makes cold fusion look like a joke' sales pitch.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Great Lakes Avengers!

Huh, I guess Byrne really is writing three teams in two books since the GLA is showing up in East Coast Avengers now.

I do worry that it's going to be hard to balance between the needs of the book's actual team and whatever Great Lakes Avengers content is showing up this month.

Hawkeye tells the Great Lakes Avengers that they did okay against the Absolom University chumps but they could have done a lot better.

I mean. They were only in action for a few pages so I don't know how you can tell.

But anyway, Hawkeye and Mockingbird have come up with carefully tailored training for the team!

Carefully tailored until they ran out of steam halfway and decided Mr Immortal and Doorman's powers were too weird to train and just have them training in athletics.

Didn't even try with Flatman. Hawkeye just tells him to do whatever he wants.

Pretty amazing how quickly Hawkeye goes from Tough Coach to half-assed.

So they have Dinah Soar flying while dodging hay bales, Big Bertha doing track and field, Mr Immortal and Doorman doing an obstacle course, and Flatman also doing an obstacle course but with more wiggling.

Hawkeye decides to throw a wrinkle in the training by shooting a grease arrow right in front of Big Bertha.

She slips, bumps into a fatphobic Mr Immortal, and he falls into Doorman.

Literally into.

This is weird because Doorman's powers are only supposed to work if he's against a door or a wall. Y'know, so his body can function as a door?

He's never had someone go through him when there wasn't a through.

Dinah Soar doesn't wait around for them to talk through the situation.

She flies right into Doorman. Literally into. And soon after flies out carrying Mr Immortal.

She cradles him against her chest as he shivers that it was so cold inside wherever he was.

Y'know... Next time the Great Lakes Avengers gets a miniseries or whatever, they should resurrect Dinah Soar. She missed out on a lot of the modern fleshing out the team got because her death basically kicked off the plot of the Dan Slott miniseries.

A new Great Lakes Avengers thing could have a lot of fun bringing her back and making it a whole thing about comic book resurrections.

C'mon, do it.

Anyway, Hawkeye decides they're gonna do a bunch of tests on Doorman, until they figure out how he works.

I was going to joke about Hawkeye trying to do science but I did then remember that Mockingbird does have a Ph.D.

In biology which may or may not wholly cover whatever is going on here. But in comics, a Ph.D. can do all the science.

Look at Hank Pym, revolutionizing robotics (derogatory) when his degree was in biochemistry. Almost as far from robotics as you can get.

Meanwhile, the A-plot.

I've missed it so.

... Actually, its the Save Gilgamesh plot so I didn't miss it so much.

Byrne is blatantly pushing to make the Great Lakes Avengers a thing but the main plots in both the Avengers plots are so blah that I don't actually mind the Great Lakes Avengers panel-time takeover so much.

Anyway, instead of just walking through the portal, the Avengers stopped to go get their Quinjet and are flying it through the Negative Zone.

I guess this is one of the space capable ones.

They're relying on Sersi's psychic connection with all other Eternals to guide them and she says they're on the right track.

Although the Avengers are doubtful about that since they just passed themselves.

I didn't know the Negative Zone did that.

Sersi insists that they're going the right way but she doesn't sound sure.

Cap agrees to keep going the way she's indicating but only for another hour or so! After that, they'll presumably have a very serious conversation about trying something else!

But Sersi was leading them right. Because right after that interaction, they find Olympia.

Just floating in the Negative Zone.

(Dammit, Sprite!)

The place is deserted - although most of the population was already gone before Sprite blew the place up so grain of salt on it looking deserted when it practically already was.

But it also looks decrepit, like its crumbling into ruin.

Sersi still senses her fellow Eternals... somewhere. So they land to look.

Namor flies off on his little ankle wings to scout around the city. And soon returns reporting he found nothing but a vague sense of unease.

He didn't see anyone in the city but he felt a presence all around.

Cap echoes his unease. The place feels haunted. Which Sersi dismisses since Eternals can't die.

Namor: "Yet that is precisely what is happening to Gilgamesh."

Acksually, he's only mostly dead.

Sersi wonders whether Olympia being lost in the Negative Zone and the Eternals being missing might somehow be related to Gilgamesh's advanced case of being sorta but not really dead.

Cap suggests they Split Up, They'll Cover More Ground That Way.

Thor is sent off on his own because he's a big, tough guy. She-Hulk and Sersi are sent off as a team. And Namor and Captain America make up the last team.

=_= Like. Did he put all the girls (all two girls) on the same team on purpose? Did he just want to hang out with his Nazi-punching World War II buddy, Namor?

Because. They discuss World War II as they're hopping and flying around the city. So it could very well be the second reason.

Captain America and Namor discuss how Olympia feels similar to Berlin in the last days of World War II. How it feels like there's an emptiness of spirit or the bitterness of "the death of dreams."

Cap worries that all they've accomplished on this journey is bringing Sersi to witness the end of the Eternals.

BUT NAMOR DOESN'T HAVE TIME TO CARE ABOUT THAT.

He re-steers the conversation back to how cool it is to hang out with an old-Nazi punching buddy. He misses the old gang.

Cap mentions that hey, recent revelations are that Vision wasn't made out of the Human Torch which means the Human Torch is maybe, probably, still around!

Namor: "Aye, and aye again! If he could be found... reactivated! The Invaders might well live again..."

Ugh.

I assume that was a huge part of Byrne's reasoning to do the VisionQuest plot.

He was big mad that robot Human Torch got tied up in Vision's origin and he wanted to peel him away so he could bring the Invaders back as a team again.

Either as a third book he'd be writing or as a fourth team he'd be writing in the two books he already had.

Every so many years, Marvel tries to bring the Invaders back.

I assume due to trademark reasons.

And it never lasts. Because the team doesn't make much sense outside a war. And any modern wars they've been shoved into are... just fraught with issues.

A new Invaders book was spun off from the Avengers way down the line to deal with the War on Terror and it was not great.

Anyway, a mystery off-screen person also agrees with me that reforming the Invaders is stupid as fuck and blows up Captain America and Namor.

Alas.

Meanwhile, She-Hulk and Sersi (designated lady team not cool enough to hang out with the Nazi punching boys) walk through the High Tower of Olympia, toward the Great Hall.

She-Hulk tries to mention she heard a far-off distant sound like thunder and also muses on how weird it is that the Negative Zone has breathable atmosphere but Sersi tells her to shut up.

THIS IS THE HIGH TOWER OF OLYMPIA, HUMANS DON'T USUALLY GET TO WALK THIS PASSAGE. BE IMPRESSED BY THE GRANDEUR, SHE-HULK.

Sersi: "This is the High Tower of Olympia -- the seat of our government, the holy of holies. No human has ever walked this passageway... Ahead lies the Great Hall, the central meeting place of all Eternals. Tread softly now in this hallowed place. Choose every word with care. Beyond these doors lies the very heart of Olympia. Draw your breath in awe at what will now unfold..."

Then she walks into a door.

Honestly, that's a funny gag.

Presumably the doors are supposed to swing open when an Eternal approaches them.

But, obviously, that's not happening.

So She-Hulk just shoves the doors open and strides on through.

She-Hulk: "Excuse me if I don't pay this place quite the respect you seem to think it's due, Sers... but let's try a more direct approach to opening these doors."

I hope She-Hulk sticks with the team whenever Sersi ends up joining. These two seem like they would have a hilarious dynamic.

The Great Hall seems to have been through a war, of some kind.

There's holes in the walls, pillars are shattered, the stonework is cracked.

In shock, Sersi declares no force on Earth could do this kind of damage. Especially not the Deviants. Not that there are any on Earth, since they were all launched into space as a cube. Probably.

Also, they're not on Earth. There's a lot of things in the Negative Zone that are heavy hitters. It's why people don't go there for fun. That and it makes people depressed to be there.

Weirder than the damaged state of the hall, Sersi can sense her fellow Eternals here, somehow! Here in this room! Everywhere around She-Hulk and Sersi! Despite the two seeming to be alone here!

Still angered by the idea of the Invaders reforming, someone blows up the Great Hall.

She-Hulk and Sersi are sent flying by the explosion.

And despite being gamma strong, there's something weird with gravity, so the fall knocks She-Hulk out despite cannonballing through seventeen stories of building in Avengers West Coast. Gravity is to blame.

Thor is aggroed by all these explosions. Like She-Hulk, he assumes that its the sound of thunder and this is a man who loves thunder.

He flies to the central tower and finds the place in ruins and Sersi in a weird intangible state.

Then Thor must have been thinking about the Invaders or something because he also blows up.

Nahhh just kidding.

It's Blastaar. He's been blowing people up.

He's incorrigible.

Unsurprisingly for a guy designed by Jack Kirby, he looks incredibly like a Kirby character. I think he goes to the same tailor as Darkseid. And the same beard barber as Highfather.

Anyway, Blastaar being the answer of 'what happened to the missing Eternals' sure is something. Not very satisfying as an answer but maybe him getting his ass kicked will be cathartic.

Follow @essential-avengers because one day that sub-tumblr will be up to date. One day, yes. Also, like, reblog, comment, and other such ways of interacting with this post.

#avengers #essential avengers #mysterious last page antagonist #captain america #she hulk #thor #namor mckenzie #sersi #eternals #gilgamesh #even though hes mostly dead he still gets a credit #great lakes avengers #yes they showed up in this #hawkeye #mockingbird #dinah soar #big bertha #flatman #mister immortal #doorman

[devildungeondm]

“ i’ve got you! “

send in “ i’ve got you! “ for the sender to hastily grab the receiver and pull them into a protective hug to shield them from an attack. alternatively, send in “ make it stop! “ for the receiver to respond to seeing the sender frightened and in distress during an attack from a third party assailant.

@hawkinssongbird

Aw, what the fuck--

Eddie already had enough of this bullshit. Being out on the run, hiding away from jocks with baseball bats, living off sugar and canned garbage like an animal, watching Chrissy die...wasn't it messed up enough?

Nope, apparently not. Now he was in this weird version of Hawkins, surrounded by hostile monsters worse than anything he could come up with in his campaigns. With people he never thought he'd hang out with, ever.

They had split off to look for more clues on how to get out of this Upside Down, as the others called it. He was stuck with Dinah -- a friend of Chrissy's and cheerleader co-captain (just because he could care less about the preps at school didn't mean he wasn't in the know; a perk of being held back).

He was quiet as they walked down a street that should've been familiar, yet felt like it was straight out of a nightmare. Eddie felt really uncomfortable, too, since he had no clue if Dinah blamed him for what happened to Chrissy, even after knowing the truth. His fingers fidgeted with his guitar pick necklace, eyes scanning for nasties. Eventually, the silence became too much, and he parted his chapped lips. "Uh--hey...about what happened to Chrissy? I'm--"

A screech could be heard in the distance, and suddenly the skies grew darker than before, as a swarm of what looked like bats soared right towards them. Before he could say anything else, he felt hands grasp his arm and yank hard. "I've got you!" he heard Dinah say, before getting pulled behind a garage that they had just passed, missing the small beasts by a hair.

"Holy shit," he gasped, eyes wide as he watched what the swarm were going to do next.

#hawkinssongbird #*waves* #hope you like! #I read your bio and tried to work it in so I hope it works for you

[fullrangeofemotions]

❀

sent by @likeablackcanary

Donna made her way backstage to the sound of thunderous clapping. Ally was quick to attach herself to her, beaming up at her as if Donna was her hero. It made here heart soar. The adrenaline was still running through her veins, she felt good. There was only one more performance to go the following night, but it was as liberating as she remembered it being. Why did she ever give it up?

“Another amazing performance mom!” Ally gushed, grinning from ear to ear, before pulling back and motioning behind her, “I found Aunt Dinah in the audience.”

It was at that moment that Donna looked up and over at the blonde woman. She had not expected to see Dinah there, or in the area at all. She thought she was traveling somewhere in Europe last time she heard.

“What are you doing here?”

But it did not mean that Donna was not excited and delighted to see her friend, “are those for me? What did you think of the show?” she asked, as she stepped forward to take the bouquet. The combination of yellow roses and sunflowers was gorgeous.

#likeablackcanary #v. a bad reputation #;voicemails

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

#X-Men #X-Force #Deadpool #Siryn #T-Ray #Typhoid Mary #Great Lakes Avengers #Mr. Immortal #Dinah Soar #Bullseye #Big Bertha #Blind Al #Doorman #Flatman #Taskmaster #Wolverine #Copycat #Death #Jimmy Palmiotti #Buddy Scalera #Arthur Adams

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

Oh and I forgot to mention, Berta can go from a “normal” form into her Bertha form, and in her normal form she is like... a supermodel?

#Marvel #West Coast Avengers #Barbara Morse ~ Mockingbird #Clint Barton ~ Hawkeye #Val Ventura ~ Flatman #Ashley Crawford ~ Big Bertha #Craig Hollis ~ Mr. Immortal #Dinah Soar #DeMarr Davis ~ Doorman