#Its from venom: the hunger issue 3

[namespara]

Some people: Ugh symbrock and all those monster fuckers wtf stop imagining weird stuff... yall only see what you wanna see

The actual fuckin comic: 

#Its from venom: the hunger issue 3 #the entire thing was so cute #symbrock #veddie #i love this ship #so much #venom #venom 2018

[beastarslongposts]

History in Beastars

I think one of the most interesting things about Beastars, which does not come up until late in the manga, is the history of the world. When it’s revealed, it’s a shock to the established order of the world for readers who’ve gotten used to it- suddenly, it’s revealed that unlike in, say, Zootopia, where the animals used to live much like animals in the real world do prior to the establishment of cities, the animals in Beastars never belonged to ecosystems where carnivores preyed on herbivores naturally. Their first contact with one another was long after they were already bipedal and sentient, with distinct cultures:

Originally called life animals, carnivores used to live by eating each other, not herbivores. Although it’s not outright stated, I think that it’s safe to assume that they also ate something other than meat- otherwise, they’d have gone extinct pretty quick, since if they were exclusively eating each other they’d not be able to reproduce fast enough to keep up with their death rate. Their population was said to be stagnant, not declining. Besides, it’s mentioned that they (presumably only) ate one another when they fought, and also that they were intelligent, compassionate, and had great camaraderie. I think this implies that when someone was killed and eaten, it wasn’t just out of hunger, and that instead being able to eat your opponent was just an important added bonus of winning a dispute.

We don’t get as much detail about the culture of the nature animals, the ancestors of herbivores. All we know is that they were “fertile and prosperous,” which presumably indicates a larger population, that they wore funky outfits made of plants, and that after the two met they built a stationary society. Since the life animals did not historically have stationary towns, we can assume this was a holdover from the nature animals’ culture.

When the two met, the life animals perceived the nature animals as “objects to be protected”- not exactly a respectful perception, but certainly not a predatory one either. Their society was peaceful until the Carni-Herbi War, which I think has incredibly important implications- predatory instincts are not natural within the Beastars universe, nor are herbivores’ instincts to flee from carnivores. Both these supposedly feral or primal instincts seem to be modern inventions rather than relics of a wild past. Now, this doesn’t mean they don’t exist- but it does mean they are new. Carnivores’ predatory instincts seem to be some sort of social construct, or possibly an intentional creation from war-time. I suspect herbivores’ instincts are a form of generational trauma.

There is precedent within Beastars for genetic engineering taking place during the war in order to increase the carnivores’ chances at victory. Dogs are an artificial species, created to be super intelligent and obedient. Although I do not think this is a definite thing (and in fact, I think the “social construct” explanation holds more weight), I think there is a distinct possibility that carnivores’ predatory instincts were intentionally created during the war for the purpose of making soldiers more aggressive and intimidating. The carnivore soldiers are shown threatening repeatedly to eat the herbivore soldiers as an intimidation tactic. This is not what I think is the most likely explanation, but since I do think its’ a plausible one, it’s worth mentioning.

What I think is more likely is that these so-called instincts arose as a result of the war’s social impact on society. During wartime, entire populations, not just opposing armies, are labeled enemies by governments and factional leaders. This is what I think likely happened in the Beastars universe. Life animals historically would eat the corpses of enemies who they’d beaten in a fight- and during wartime, you have a lot of enemies to fight. With herbivores being seen as an entire class of enemies, the carnivores would have naturally intended to eat them after defeat, much as they would when the life animals fought one another in the past. We don’t know how long this war lasted, but we do know that wars tend to create long-term damage in relations between groups, with harmful stereotypes and resentments lasting long past the official end of the aggression. I think this is likely why carnivores now consider it natural to eat herbivores.

Furthermore, although it’s unclear who started it, it looks like the herbivores were losing the war, meaning a great many herbivores would have been eaten. In the panels depicting the war, it’s mentioned that the herbivore population was three times that of the carnivore population before the war, but now their populations are equal- this is a massive decline for the herbivores, and I think there’s no way it wouldn’t create generational trauma. According to a demographics website I looked up, about 1/3 of the world’s human population is 19 or younger- if the herbivores’ pre-war population followed the same trend, that would mean either that there were significant child casualties or that nearly their entire adult population was wiped out. They were also the ones to surrender, which I think is interesting considering how they’re often shown as having greater socio-political power in current society than carnivores.

I’d assume that both “carnivore” and “herbivore” as labels were originally intended as slurs- the former implying savagery and the latter implying weakness. That they’re both commonly accepted signifiers in modern Beastars society implies a lot of residual hostility.

I don’t know what to make of the big whale stopping the war- hopefully we’ll get more detail on that in future chapters. I think it’s safe to say it definitely did happen and wasn’t made up, but I’m at a loss as to how or why it would have happened.

This history, in my opinion, clears up why certain animals are considered herbivores despite not technically being herbivores in real life- bugs are not sentient in Beastars, so an anteater, for instance, would not have reasonably come from the life animal culture because never in its history would it have been eating the corpses of enemies- it likely wouldn’t even be physically capable of such a thing.

There is a notable element in this history I’d be interested to know more about, too- the life animals appear to be a mix of feline, canine, and ursine, and the nature animals appear to entirely be composed of hooved animals with horns or antlers. All of them are mammals. Where have other land-dwelling species within the Beastars universe come from, and how do they fit into the war? We know that they’re still classified as herbivores and carnivores, so how did they end up in those groups? I’d especially be interested to know the histories of reptiles and birds. Reptiles in particular appear to face a significant amount of discrimination. Some reptiles do produce venom, which is legitimately dangerous, but not all of them do, so that can’t be the issue with all of them.

The last thing I wanted to touch on in this post is that the Carni-Herbi War is really recent history within Beastars- 100 years may feel like a long time ago, but it’s still within living memory. I’d think this would be especially true in Beastars, since some species of animal can likely live well past 100. Despite this, it doesn’t seem to be common knowledge, at least not among the younger crowd. Why? What about the war necessitates it be aggressively removed from public consciousness? 100 years is not long enough for it to fade naturally, and the fact that only the smartest few students are permitted to learn about it in school is telling. It really reeks of intentional, likely forceful suppression, and I’m a bit worried Jack could end up in trouble later for telling Legosi about it. If there wasn’t some kind of penalty, I’d think that way more animals would have a “my grandpa who was in the war” story to tell and the knowledge wouldn’t be nearly as obscure.

#beastars

[kagemajaya]

Hidamari ga Kikoeru - Part 2: From iyashikei romance to conventional romantic drama

I Hear the Sunspot - 2013, Fumino Yuki - 7/10

Kouhei and Taichi being sad and alone under the rain

You can read the first part of this post here.

The healing has ended and now it’s time for some romantic drama tropes to take over. I will be quite harsh in the rest of this review and focus on the manga’s flaws, but bear in mind, this is because I loved this story and expected more out of it. It is of course still leagues ahead of many others of its kind. 

With the second volume of Hidamari ga Kikoeru, we step into a territory that we haven’t been in yet: proper romance. That is not to say Koufuku-hen (vol.2) and Limit (vol.3) do not delve into other topics at hand, coming of age and disability, but they are now tools to give us more and more melodrama between our “established” couple. Kouhei and Taichi aren’t exactly going out at the beginning of Koufuku-hen, but all intentions are there and we know why we are getting these sequels: the boys will need to get together.

Koufuku-hen introduces the first two obstacles to our boys’ soft romance: an entitled rival and worries about future occupation, classic go-to’s in any elementary romance story. (For an almost exhaustive catalogue of what drama a simple first love story should include, check out Doukyuusei, it does it well and without pretense.) 

Maya, the rival to Taichi, is a total bitch. Whether her disability is supposed to make her sympathetic, I don’t know, but she is the sort of character I can’t stand in any story. Actually stopping Taichi, someone she’s just met, from meeting Kouhei, and Kouhei and Taichi both allowing her that power is lazy narrative. Where does she get that power? Why is it okay for her to be mean to Taichi? And why is Taichi a pushover? Is that what being nice means? Certainly not in my dictionary. And certainly not by the standards of what we’ve seen from Taichi so far. He’s been quite defensive and protective against mean people - does Maya being a girl make it okay? Is it because she hangs out with Kouhei? None of these reasons work for me. As the story continues into Limit, she mellows out a bit, and even reluctantly helps Taichi. Unfortunately, this was nowhere near enough to redeem her character for me. As a tool to further the boys’ relationship, she was rudimentary. If we look at her as her own character, Fumino certainly gives her character development and her own plotline, neither of which are things she gave me a reason to care about. Maya was in the end Strike One towards a suffocating, trite melodrama that Fumino did so well keeping away from in volume 1.

Aren’t you the one who acts like that Miss Prejudice? 

Strike Two is future worries. Now as a topic for a 19 year old who has no idea what he’s doing with life, it makes total sense. When we come to its execution however, I have huge problems. Taichi quits university because now he knows what he wants to do with his life: help Kouhei with his hearing problems. In essence, both his wish to work with the hearing disability community and Kouhei’s reaction of feeling like a burden to Taichi are realistic, and could have been explored much like Kouhei’s original issue was explored in volume 1- quietly, without melodrama, with respite. Instead, what we get is, lack of communication and many many misinterpretations of each other’s feelings, not seeing each other for ages (and the normalization of that - two adults in a relationship not having time to see each other is bullshit, also propagated across many manga as if it could be real.) and once again, we are drowning in the sad feelings of youngsters who feel they are just not loved.

Of course, the work environment itself, which we get into more in Limit, carries the melodrama a million steps further. Taichi’s colleagues are generally nice people. The one that stands out the most is his de facto boss Chiba-san. He is the tough love type who teaches well and cares about you in his own grumpy way. Taichi of course loves to complain about him - which leads to Kouhei being jealous. And of course that’s not enough, whilst he is being jealous, but also feeling like a burden to Taichi cause he changed his future plans for him, he also decides to stay away from him, and be friends with another character who can’t hear, Ryuu, who is both vehemently against deaf people being with hearing people, and also - a shocking twist of fate - turns out to be Chiba-san’s little brother. With his venom, he convinces Kouhei that he can’t be with Taichi forever, and that he doesn’t need to get better hearing. I call it venom because before his own plotline is revealed, he comes across quite villainous. In fact, he is a sad, sensitive young man because he thinks he ruined his brother’s life, much like he makes Kouhei think he ruined Taichi’s life. The generalizations made and the entitlement to butt into other people’s life choices and the self-righteous attitude that comes with it bring us even more melodrama and suffocation. On the other hand, Chiba-san and Ryuu’s plotline is nicely resolved by the end, unlike Maya’s, it resonated with me as its own story. One reason for that could be that the only major female character we get ends up a part of the romantic plotline, and boy that is a turn off. Is that all girls are for? (Not saying Fumino-sensei is the sort to do this on purpose, but it is still quite boring to see it happen over and over again.)

Don’t fuck with a sensitive guy’s head dude... 

In the end, rather than envisioning ways to execute these plotlines better, I ask myself the question - was this continuation necessary at all? Apart from turning all the earlier beautiful drama into a tool to create romantic melodrama, what did we achieve? I guess we did get Kouhei and Taichi together by the end, but the somewhat open ending of the first volume had already done a classy job in making me think they were going to get together. It is of course natural to want to see your favorites continue to be a part of your life, and that is how I had felt at first when Koufuku-hen had come out. However, this is another lesson in how carrying on with an already finished story is almost never a good idea. Koufuku-hen and Limit did not entirely fuck up Hidamari ga Kikoeru, but they were far from ideal. Rather than enjoying the journey, I looked forward to it finishing as I waddled through Kouhei and Taichi’s endless troubles. 

The latter volumes get a 6 from me - a score I give to manga that I think are fine enough but I don’t want to read again. Surely, most of these flaws will get lost in the original sensitive choice and execution of the topic and will get ignored, branding Hidamari ga Kikoeru a master work. I’d like to reserve that epitaph for stories that carry that sensitiveness throughout. Maybe the solution is to regard these volumes as separate works, as I still love the original and will cherish it among my other favorites. Would also love to hear about your thoughts on these points - did you feel similarly as you read? Or did you only notice after reading this? Maybe you still loved the manga just as much as before? Either way, here’s hoping good stories aren’t dragged down by editor/reader pressures or a hunger for fame and money and we stop where they should.   

A dramatic chase, a traffic accident scare and we’re there… take a chill pill Fumino-sensei and see you next time...

#hidamari ga kikoeru #i hear the sunspot #fumino yuki #bl manga #manga #manga rec #manga review #series review #bl rec #bl recs

[cannibal-wings]

“Cannot Help Our Nature”

“Cannot Help Our Nature”, or a text post by Tye about why that one line bothers me so much.

So, let me start by saying there are a few things in fiction that I cannot stand. One of them is the concept that a whole species can be evil, no exceptions. Each member of an entire species is 100% evil from birth to death. Most of the time these species are a hive-mind or have a hive social structure. The Illithids in DnD, the Fell in The Books of the Raksura, and even in kids shows like the Changelings in MLP: FiM. We’ve seen time and time again that species with a hive society or hive-mind are evil. I’m very against the idea that a whole species can be born evil, it doesn’t sit well with me and probably never well. And if a hive-mind society is “evil” are they really? Or is just whatever is at the core? Can we say for certain that all the members of the hive-mind want to do what they’re doing? I’d venture a guess we can’t.

So why does this panel bother me more than any of the others in the whole issue? Well lets take a moment to explore something, what IS the Venom Symbiote’s nature?

It’s been established very early on in Planet of the Symbiotes that the Venom Symbiote has always been different from the other corrupted Klyntar. In fact, this difference in nature nearly got it culled to safeguard the gene pool. The Venom Symbiote has always been about living with and being one with a host. The middle panel is very important and we’ll swing back to it in a few heartbeats.

What about the Klyntar themselves? What is their nature? Well, that depends on where we are in the Venom canon. Because it’s evolved over the years. With the Symbiotes in Planet of the Symbiotes we see a species that is probably 100% evil. The fact that they were ready to cull Venom for being different speaks of this. However, even these Symbiotes don’t act like how Venom is in issue 11. These Symbiotes use up and dispose of their hosts, tossing them away like garbage. Their nature is consume and destroy. Emotional manipulation is not among their nature. They care not for the host, the host is just a food source to power their march across the galaxy.

Of course this view of the Klyntar shifted with expanded history in Guardians of the Galaxy 2013 issue 23. Like it or not, the Klyntar were given a name and a few interesting facts. The first is that they are, at their core, a species that seeks peace in the galaxy. The second is that their species lives to form a close bond with a host, something they consider sacred (sound familiar? maybe like a certain symbiote deemed an aberration?). The third is that there is a renegade group of Klyntar who desire to do harm and spread like a disease. The Klyntar of the homeworld reject and are ashamed of this subsection of their kind. This history change keeps Planet of the Symbiotes canon, as the ones they fought were part of this subgroup of destroyers. (I should mention the above image is from Venom 2016 issue 3)

So we know what the nature of the Klyntar are, they are either uncaring monsters who suck all life from their hosts and move on, or they’re a species that treats the bond as something sacred to be treasured. None of those include emotional manipulation of the host and abuse of the host mentally. But what about Venom? What is the Venom Symbiotes nature? What does Venom do when scared?

In issue 11 of the 2018 run it would seem that the Venom Symbiote’s nature when scared is to create false memories, force a co-dependence, and manipulate Eddie so that he is too scared to leave. I’d argue that that is a completely false reading of the Venom Symbiote. To me, the Venom Symbiote’s nature when scared is to withhold information, clam up, hide, and on occasion lie. The Venom Symbiote, when scared will not admit that it is scared, it will say that everything is ok, fine, there is nothing wrong. Venom lies to itself.

Venom has always been scared of being rejected, that fear has been documented for ages. It hid that it was alive from Peter out of fear of rejection, it hid it’s true nature from Eddie because it thought Eddie would reject it for being different. Once more it hid it was alive to Ben Reilly out of fear of rejection. It hid that it was falling off the Path to Flash out of fear that Flash would leave. And again it hid that they were ready to spawn to Eddie out of fear. It was afraid Eddie would leave, was afraid the child would be a monster, so Venom claimed everything was fine. 

(Screens from Venom Super Special, Venom Space Knight issue 6, Venom 2016 issues 164 and 165)

Venom hides and retreats when scared. Venom has never been shown to do this type of emotional damage when frightened. Even when Venom is aware that it’s manipulating Eddie, it questions itself, asks if its wrong to influence Eddie to fight crimes? Is it ok to lie to Eddie? Does that make it a monster? Venom seems to be very aware that it’s a bad thing, and it doesn’t do it often. We’ve had whole arcs about who is influencing who, Planet of the Symbiotes, Separation Anxiety, even the Hunger touched on the fact that they have a bond that affects both of them. The outcome of all of these moments of questioning seems to be that, no, Venom does not make Eddie do things that Eddie wouldn’t do. There’s no insidious manipulation at play.

I just cannot see that Venom has been creating false memories, fake cancer, seeding fear, seeding doubt, and playing Eddie for their entire relationship. There’s just far too much to the contrary out there with this character. We’ve never seen Venom behave in that way. When Venom is scared, Venom hides.

Venom was born to be an Agent of the Cosmos. Venom’s nature has always been to create a healthy bond, because an unhealthy one destroys the host and corrupts the Klyntar. Venom has always wanted to be a hero, be good. And even after all the people who used and abused it, it still firmly believes that its nature is good.

#venom #Venom Spoilers #I'm so salty

[darkmindsthinktwistedthoughts]

Enter the Kitsune - Chapter 2

Warnings: none really in this part. introduction to castle life.

Masterlist

—

Chapter 2

I raised my groggy head from what felt like a giant pillow only to discover it was the flat mattress they gave me to sleep on. It is called a futon, right? Argh… need coffee. Defused light was seeping into the room through the large screen in front of the window. It took a few moments for my brain to catch up with everything. I guess some part of me still thinks this is a weird dream.

– Clatter –

A loud noise from outside my room made me jump. Wrapping the blanket around my shoulders I moved to the door and slid it open just enough to see that one of the servants had dropped a tray. Small plates had fallen onto the floor. Miraculously they had somehow avoided braking, which was more than could be said for the food.

A young girl with dark chocolate brown hair was bent over scooping rice and other foodstuffs back onto the tray to try to clean up the mess.

“What do you think you are doing?” A slightly older woman scuttled out of a room with a wet rag in her hand. Her sharp tone made even me jump and I felt even worse for the young girl who was being glared at as if she had intended to sully the castle floor on purpose.

“I was taking breakfast to the Princess.” The girl paused in cleaning up the mess to bow her head to her elder.

“Princess? Don’t make me laugh. Takes more than a title to make you something like that. I have no idea where Lord Oda found that stray cat but it won’t take long for him to get bored with her.” The other woman was waving around her rag like a flag as she spoke. I knew I wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms or anything but you would have thought they would at least see me or get to know me before deciding they hate me.

“We still have to treat her…” The younger servant stood back up balancing the tray with its scattered contents in her hands.

“She won’t be getting special treatment from me. You do as you like.” The other servant scoffed.

“Has anyone seen her yet?” Another female appeared carrying what looked to be bolts of fabric with one more maid walking next to her carrying a woven basket that looked to be full of linen. “I caught a glimpse of her when she arrived. She was sitting proud as you like wrapped up in Lord Masamune’s arms.”

“Who does she think she is?” The older servant was practically spitting venom in her voice at this point.

“Lord Hideyoshi doesn’t seem to like her much.” The one carrying the linen spoke in a conspiratorial tone as she joined the conversation.

“Well, that says it all. The man has taste.”

“What was her name anyway?”

“I think Lord Mitsunari said she was called Aerion Foxx.” The young servant holding the dropped tray timidly spoke up. Clearly, she was uncomfortable with the conversation but was staying put probably from fear of being dubbed an outcast in some way. Honestly, the way they are gathering there just makes it look like a bunch of people gossiping around the water cooler in the office at work.

“Fox? As in Kitsune?” The one holding the fabric nearly dropped them as they practically jumped hearing my surname. It’s not that strange of a name you know?

“Haha, that’s perfect!” There was nothing pleasant in the laughter that erupted from the lips of that older servant.

“What is?”

“Well we already have one kitsune in the castle now Lord Oda has brought in another one.” The servant holding the linen basket nodded knowing what the older woman was getting at. Kitsune? I guess that’s what they call a fox here. Why do I get the feeling its meant as an insult?

“Shh, keep your voice down what if she should hear us?”

“What does it matter? Mark my words she is nothing but a fancy stray cat from some Nanban’s boat. I give it a week before Lord Oda is bored and tired of her and she is gone.” Everything about the older servant just seemed to scream that she was not going to accept me no matter what I did. It’s not like I was planning on trying to be everyone’s friend or anything. But the fact remains I have to stay here for at least 3 months. It would have been nice if we could all just be civil with each other. I gave a silent little sigh as I imagined the drama that was sure to be coming my way in the near future.

I slid the door closed not wishing to hear any more and noticed a bundle placed next to it. It was neatly tied and there was a small note placed on top. The black ink was smooth and delicate on the paper making it almost seem inviting in some way. There was no way I had of reading it, I had been right before I might be able to somehow hear and speak this language but I can’t read it. A soft knock on my door announced the arrival of the original maid that had dropped the tray in the corridor.

“Excuse me, Princess. I have your breakfast from the kitchen.” She had her head bent low in a formal bow and was shuffling her way into my room like a graceful constricted swan. Her dark brown hair was bundled to one side at the top of her head in a kind of messy bun, small ponytail style. Her bangs were falling over her face in three sections allowing me to see her eyes that looked so warm and inviting it was like looking into two cups of rich dark espresso. She couldn’t have been older than me if anything she appeared to be in her late teens.

“What is your name?” I was still holding the bundle one hand with the unreadable note in the other.

“My name is Akito, Princess.” She continued to politely address me and placed the tray down near a floor cushion for me. She was stealing small glances at me but not actually looking at me for very long at all. Nervous? Fear? Or is that some form of manners here? Either way, I can’t take it, it’s making me feel uncomfortable just watching her.

“Ok. Well, Akito. First of all, you don’t have to bow to me. And could you please not call me by that title?” I felt like I had been repeating the same conversation over and over again to everyone recently. It’s a shame I can’t just record the message and hit a play button every time I want to say it.

“It would be highly disrespectful to do such a thing, my lady.” Akito’s head shot up from her formal bow so she was looking at me directly now. He brown eyes were wide with curiosity but also appeared to have traces of fear in them. Oh, come on I’m not that scary. What do you think I’m going to do?

“Alright I realise there is a strong sense of maintaining things like that here but whilst you are in my room with no one else here you can drop the formalities. I am just a woman the same as you.” I gave her a warm smile and kept my tone soft in an attempt to calm her. Thankfully Akito seemed to relax a little at this.

“If that is what you have ordered me to do Prin-, I’m sorry if I am not to call you Princess what am I to call you my lady?” Akito inclined her head and it reminded me of a small animal discovering something new.

“My name is Aerion.”

“Lady Aerion.” Akito nodded happily a stunning smile spreading across her face as she addressed me.

“I suppose that will do for now.” I chuckled. “Will you be the main servant I see?”

“Yes, lady Aerion I was assigned to your care by lord Mitsunari. I am your personal maid.” Akito straightened up proudly after saying this. I wonder if Mitsunari chose Akio specifically because she seems to be so kind or if it was because no one else seems to want to have anything to do with me? I mentally shook that thought from my mind not wanting to dwell on things I can’t change.

“I see. Could I ask you to read this to me?” I handed over the note to a confused looking Akito. She took it carefully in her hands and began translating it for me.

“I thought you would be needed this. I hope you find it easier to move in. Akechi Mitsuhide.”

“Mitsuhide?” The name of the last man I thought would be leaving me surprise gifts made me look suspiciously at the bundle in my hands.

“Yes, My lady.”

“Do you have any idea what this is?” I held up the folded fabric glad to see that Akito apparently recognised it. She gently took it from my hand and unfolded it holding it up for me to see that it was definitely clothing.

“That is called a hakama my lady.”

“Is it different from a Kimono?” I took a step closer to it running my fingers over the soft fabric to what looked like a pair of unfinished trousers.

“Yes, my lady. If you like I can help you get dressed after you have eaten.”

“Thank you, Akito I’d appreciate it. I tried to put on this kimono myself and made a complete mess with the obi.”

“I understand. A lot of the foreign visitors have similar issues but with practice, it does become easier.”

Breakfast was simple but delicious on my empty stomach. I tried to remember the last time I really bothered to eat a proper breakfast and failed miserably. It was always a mad rush in the morning to get the train to work so typically I would grab a Danish pastry from the coffee shop along with my morning late and suffer the impending doom of my own hunger until lunchtime when I could go out and get something decent to eat somewhere else.

Akito had helped me get dressed and I was happily surprised with how comfortable the hakama was to move in. My legs didn’t feel like they were going to be restricted at any point. It was a far cry from my usual pair of jeans it was a better historical replacement than a standard kimono. I tried to pay attention to the different layers as Akito explained how to put together the outfit on me. Under kimono, kimono, obi nothing seemed different until I slipping into the Hakama and then the very specific way she was tying it around my waist.

It felt strange to put on effectively a pair of trousers like this. After attaching the front of the hakama Akito took what looked like a wooden fastener that was at the back of the hakama and attached it to the new ties she had made when she arranged the first half of the hakama. She pulled the back portion of the hakama a little higher so it covered my original obi and then moved to do the finishing ties around my waist turning the stiffen fabric into a beautiful flattened bow on my left side. Apparently, there was a right and wrong way of doing that so I tried to follow as best I could. There is no way I’ll be perfect at this straight off the bat but I can at least attempt to try and get better at it.

After what felt like an eternity of getting dressed Akito left to return the tray to the kitchen and had some other work to attend to. I felt bad for keeping her so long so I let her go and decided I would try to make my way around the castle to see if I could figure out what I was supposed to do in my new job. I had been right on my first impression of around here it’s so easy to get lost in this labyrinth of corridors.

“Ah! There you are, Lass.” That familiar voice instantly made me freeze as I remembered the steel against my throat. Turning around slowly in case of there being a repeat performance of last night I saw Masamune walking along happily with Ieyasu by his side looking less than impressed with the other man’s company.

“Masamune. Ieyasu.” I didn’t know what else to say and as I was usually told it was better to say nothing during those times than ramble like an idiot.

“You look lost.” Masamune chuckled looking a little like a mischievous child as he got close enough to try to reach out his hand for me and I instantly sidestepped to avoid him. His blue eye twinkled seeing this and I swear I saw him lick his lips. Little early in the day for that kind of thing… down boy.

“A little.” I admitted I was in fact lost it wasn’t as if pride was going to help me change the facts.

“Takes talent to get lost walking in a straight line. You’re as bad as Mitsunari.” Ieyasu spoke up critiquing my inability to decipher the castle layout. I plastered my best smile on my face that I usually saved for meetings with difficult clients at work.

“And it takes a special kind of talent to both help someone out and insult them at the same time. Congratulations Ieyasu you really nailed it.” Ieyasu stood there slack-jawed, emerald eyes wide just staring at me dumbfounded. Masamune had a similar expression but recovered much faster and burst out laughing so loud it echoed in the hallway.

“Isn’t that great Ieyasu you got yourself a new friend?” Masamune said slapping the other guy on the shoulder with an audible thump.

“As if I’d want to be friends with a weakling like her.” Ieyasu mumbled avoiding eye contact with either of us as he spoke. Something about that sight made me start giggling which earned me a glare from Ieyasu that only served to make my laughter worse.

“So where were you trying to get to?” Masamune asked after we had both gotten our laughter under control.

“Nowhere really I was just trying to work out what I should be doing as Chatelaine but I haven’t found anyone that’s willing to tell me yet.” I felt the weight of all the emotions that hit me earlier when I had overheard the staff gossiping earlier. I had found several maids but they had all been more interested in asking if I needed anything and insisting that I didn’t need to help them. When I tried to ask about my new job, they had either fallen silent or made excuses to leave. Nothing like that classic feeling of the new kid in school.

“You should just give up and go be a good girl and play in your room.” Ieyasu huffed. Clearly, he thought that Nobunaga’s original idea of me playing dress up was what I should be doing. Just the idea of that had my skin bristling all over.

“No. I said I would work and I intend to. I can’t sit around and just do nothing I really will go crazy and what’s more why are you talking to me like I’m a child?”

“Who goes wandering around and gets lost when they are an adult?” Ieyasu met my tone matching it perfectly with his own bringing us into a stalemate just glaring at each other.

“Ignore him, Lass. If you want to know what you should be doing you had best go and ask Mitsunari. I would say Hideyoshi but when I last saw him, he looked like you could boil water on his head.” Masamune expertly cut in front of Ieyasu and broke the tension.

“What a lovely image. And how do I find Mitsunari?”

---

[iamnmbr3]

So ya'll gonna ignore how disgusted with Venom Eddie Brock was before they initially spit and Eddie became Anti-Venom, and how eddie was litterally begging not to be rejoined with Venom when Venom tried going back to him when Flash had him? Yes. There is codependency issues. the end. They are woking through it and trying to be good for one another, but its there.

1) “ Yes. There is codependency issues. the end.” 

Donny Cates? Is that you?! lol jk. Nobody’s disputing that. They are absolutely extremely codependent. But that’s not the same as them being bad for each other and abusive, especially given the context - namely this is a fictional relationship involving a non-human character that literally lives inside its partner. A human being who wants to literally spend 24/7 with you is disturbed but that’s normal for the symbiote.

2) “So ya’ll gonna ignore how disgusted with Venom Eddie Brock was before they initially spit and Eddie became Anti-Venom, and how eddie was litterally begging not to be rejoined with Venom when Venom tried going back to him when Flash had him?”

Comics are not exactly known for consistency. I mean you can find an old arc where Eddie auctions off the symbiote for money. Conversely, you can also look at The Hunger, which is literally about defeating depression through the power of love, includes them holding hands at the movies, and ends with the words “we’re going to live happily ever after” inscribed in a pink heart. 

And the fact is. The last storyline we got wasn’t the anti-venom arc. It was Costa’s run where they were explicitly characterized as being in love and where they worked on making their relationship better. This run was supposed to pick up from there.

So to have all that be seemingly ignored is jarring. And also very upsetting for a lot of people. 

3) “They are woking through it and trying to be good for one another, but its there.”

I’m all for watching them continue to work through their issues. I’d love to see Eddie face his fear of being alone and realize he doesn’t need the symbiote but that he wants it. I’d love to see him say “I love you” back. I don’t have a problem with them working on their relationship.

What I do have a problem with is seeing that relationship be invalidated, written out, or minimized. 

#asks #symbrock #venom #donny cates #donny cates discourse #venom comics

[tonkatsu-slice]

kuribo4indahouse commented on quetzalpapalotl's photo “So I was looking through my favorite alien goo's wiki page, as one...”

@tonkatsu-slice I had no idea about these relationship, and I used to be quite a bit into Spider-Man. Well I guess Peter Parker is the symbiote's ex from a dysfunctional relationship lol

@kuribo4indahouse It didn’t become explicitly romantic from the beginning, but post 2016 releases are shamelessly romantic. Also Eddie is not often wrote sympathetic is Spider-Man comics, but they reference it a few times. It’s shown they care for each other and calls themselves family. The Venom comics is where is it.

Venom: The Hunger, 1996 (Len Kaminski).

Venom 2016 (Mike Costa).

They are also said to have a much deeper bond that any other Symbiote-Human relationship to the point that some people in the fandom speculate Eddie isn’t actually human (lol). Eddie gets withdrawal symptoms when he doesn’t have the Symbiote and he can feel it even if they are far apart. Other characters through the run have pointed out they are in love, or in a relationship, or the other side you have cynical ones like Peter who sees them as being brain damaged or something.

There was a time around 2000s-2016 when Marvel decided that they needed to be “subersive” and take 300 steps back so the Symbiote is bad and Eddie is an asshole and idk. Eddie turns insane, allucinates about the Symbiote and he goes from being terrified of the Symbiote to hating it to wanting kill all of them to getting it back. They also said that Eddie was a terrible child that manipulated others into becoming his friends. Not like Eddie didn’t have issues (his tendency to go on blind rages and blame anyone but himself) but this was uuuuuhhhh. Also he has terminal cancer now and he sold the Symbiote.

So the Symbiote goes to other hosts, stuff happens, Eddie is magically cured, the Symbiote makes friends with Flash Thompson, etc.

In the old comics with Eddie Brock Venom was very goofy and at times heartwarming and at times violent, and the recent movie borrows from that early take. For a long time people were exposed to that gritty portrayal or the one shown in the Spider-Man 3 movie so I guess you are coming from there. No wonder so many people complained the movie wasn’t dark enough... It’s an alien that loves to sing, watch TV and eat chocolate. Come on.

They also love to point out they are married and that you should refer to them as “they” because they are two in one body.

(Darkhawk, 1992)

It was until Carnage 2016 (Gerry Conway) they patched this up by having Eddie say the Symbiote or becoming Venom didn’t turn him into a monster, he was the one who was full of hate and was pinning the blame for all his shortcomings on someone else just like he did with Peter Parker.

And this makes sense, because not only we are aware even classic Eddie liked to blame other people, the Symbiote not making you do what you don’t want is something we have been told before. In fact it’s something Eddie should know because that fact traumatized and killed his ex-wife:

Then in Venom 2016 they said the Symbiote’s species was always benevolent and the bond with its host is sacred or whatever and said what happened is that Symbiote became corrupted due to being influenced by Eddie’s grudges.

This is all Marvel did to put Eddie Brock’s Venom back on track after the 2000s gritty era, even the back cover of Venom 2016 is advertised as “The return of classic Venom”.

Before all this mess happened the Symbiote and Eddie were consistently portrayed as enjoying each other’s company a lot:

And the origin story (which I personally like a lot more) was about how the Symbiote was an outcast because it craved geniune bonds and companionship as seen in the 1995 release Planet of the Symbiotes but you know American comics love their soft reboots:

I hope this clears things up.

#kuribo4indahouse #Venom

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 18 February 2019

Quick Bits:

Aquaman #45 gives us a new creation story with Father Sea and Mother Salt. It’s interesting world-building for what’s going on on this island. Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, and Sunny Gho seem to level up on their art again. This book is gorgeous.

| Published by DC Comics

Avengers #15 continues the vampire civil war, with the Shadow Colonel basically kidnapping Ghost Rider. Jason Aaron is definitely taking this series in weird places, but it remains highly entertaining. Especially with collaborators like David Marquez and Erick Arciniega who deliver some incredible artwork.

| Published by Marvel

Avengers: No Road Home #2 reveals how Nyx and her family took Olympus. There’s also a neat parallel narration for Hawkeye explaining how the guy with just a bow and arrows can take on gods and monsters. The art from Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, and Jesus Aburtov is gorgeous, they really seem to pushing themselves with their storytelling. It’s just a shame that none of the artists are credited on the cover.

| Published by Marvel

Barbarella/Dejah Thoris #2 is ridiculously impressive. Leah Williams, Germán García, Addison Duke, and Crank! are delivering an intelligent, humorous, and compelling adventure tale here that reminds me a lot of some of what Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse did in Tom Strong. It’s incredibly inventive and the artwork is amazing. Highly recommended.

| Published by Dynamite

Batman #65 gives us the penultimate chapter of “The Price”, featuring an all out battle between Flash, Gotham Girl, and Gotham. The artwork from Guillem March and Tomeu Morey is stunning, with some incredible layouts as the action continues.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Widow #2 is fairly bloody and violent as Natasha racks up a body count tracking down the people running “No Restraints Play”, a site that specializes in depravity. Flaviano’s line art seems scratchier than the first issue, but it works for the violent tone of story.

| Published by Marvel

Bloodborne #9 begins the third arc, “A Song of Crows”, as Aleš Kot, Piotr Kowalski, Brad Simpson, Aditya Bidikar, and Jim Campbell spotlight Eileen the Crow. This is a bit of return to the kind of abstract storytelling and embrace of oblique existentialism of the first arc as Eileen investigates the ritual murder of a hunter, but is confounded by time and holes in the narrative.

| Published by Titan

Catwoman #8 is ostensibly the “conclusion” to “Something Smells Fishy”, but it doesn’t actually end the story in any way and leaves the reader at a cliffhanger of continuing elements. That being said, it’s still an entertaining issue from Joëlle Jones, Elena Casagrande, Fernando Blanco, John Kalisz, and Josh Reed. Wonderful action sequences, and more questions as to the nature of a reliquary that seems to contain resurrective powers.

| Published by DC Comics

Delver #1 begins a new Comixology Original series from MK Reed, C. Spike Trotman, Clive Hawken, Maarta Laiho, and Ed Dukeshire. It’s a very intriguing and unique take on the fantasy gaming theme of a dungeon full of treasure and monsters with delvers working to plumb the depths. But it’s from the perspective of the townsfolk whose land the door to the dungeon appears in and how it changes and impacts their lives. 

| Published by Iron Circus Comics

Doctor Strange #11 concludes the battle with Dormammu and the Faltine, for now at least, from Mark Waid, Jesús Saiz, Javier Pina, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Cory Petit. Some very nice art as usual from Saiz, Pina, and Rosenberg.

| Published by Marvel

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3 continues “Mother of Exiles” from Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal, Nolan Woodard, and Travis Lanham as Peter finds out a bit about the rumours regarding his neighbour and Under York, another duplicate New York City under New York City, that oddly isn’t the Monster Metropolis. Great humour from Taylor in the dialogue.

| Published by Marvel

Guardians of the Galaxy #2 takes a somewhat different approach as Peter Quill drunk dials Kitty as he tries to make sense of what’s going on with Thanos, Gamora, everyone who’s dead, and the current state of the Guardians. Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Marte Gracia, and Cory Petit are really taking this series into interesting offbeat territory, while still delivering some excellent humour and an ominous feel to Starfox’s new band of “guardians”.

| Published by Marvel

Incursion #1 begins a new mini picking up on where the Eternal Warrior and Geomancer are since Harbinger Wars 2 and Ninja-K, and pit them against Imperatrix Virago, a cosmic villain that is devouring worlds (kind of like if Galactus were pestilence), from Andy Diggle, Alex Paknadel, Doug Braithwaite, José Villarrubia, Diego Rodriguez, and Marshall Dillon. The art is incredible, the stakes seem pretty high, and the outlook after this first issue look pretty grim for Earth.

| Published by Valiant

James Bond 007 #4 sees Stephen Mooney join Greg Pak, Tríona Farrell, and Ariana Maher for the art chores for three issues, continuing the tale of Bond and “Oddjob”’s team-up. Like Marc Laming, Mooney seems to be born to draw Bond and espionage themed stories.

| Published by Dynamite

Judge Dredd: Toxic #4 concludes what has been an excellent series dealing with xenophobia and hateful rhetoric from Paul Jenkins, Marco Castiello, Vincenzo Acunzo, Jason Millet, Shawn Lee, and Robbie Robbins. I’ve always found non 2000 AD Judge Dredd stories to be a bit of crapshoot, but IDW have been delivering well with the past two mini-series, this and Under Siege.

| Published by IDW

Justice League #18 is the latest excursion into the Legion of Doom territory from James Tynion IV, Pasqual Ferry, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano. It works with some of the revelations from last issue regarding Martian Manhunter and builds a new narrative for Lionel Luthor’s past and his work with Vandal Savage. It’s interesting to see Tynion working with variations on discarded continuities in this way, building a new past that synthesizes pre-Flashpoint ideas with the current batch of backstories.

| Published by DC Comics

Middlewest #4 only seems to be getting better and better as more of this world and how it seems to work get fleshed out by Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos. There’s something incredibly magical and special about this series that taps into the feeling of some of the best coming-of-age fantasies as it blends Ray Bradbury, JM Barrie, and Carlo Collodi into this magical realist adventure.

| Published by Image

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3 concludes the opening arc from Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, and Cory Petit by adding Captain America to Miles & Rhino’s team-up. This has been a very entertaining start to the series, with a nice mix of Miles’ personal life and superheroics.

| Published by Marvel

Naomi #2 reasserts that Jamal Campbell is a powerhouse of an artist and one of the best kept secrets of the past few years who really should have a higher profile. His art is amazing. It also helps that the story he, Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker, and Carlos M. Mangual are telling is as compelling as this, as Naomi confronts Dee as she tries to learn about the day of her adoption. It’s very widescreen and epic as it hints at the broader DC Universe, but at the same time this is very deeply personal.

| Published by DC Comics

Old Man Quill #2 gives the Guardians a taste of the depravity and despair that Earth has fallen to in this post-superhero world. Ethan Sacks shows there’s still a bit of humour left, though, in that Piledriver’s descendent thinks that Piledriver was one of the all-time greats. Also the art from Robert Gill and Andres Mossa gives a wonderful amount of detail to the wastelands.

| Published by Marvel

Relay #4 returns after a delay with new artist Dalibor Talajić (I believe Andy Clarke had to bow out due to illness, but I’m not 100% sure on that). Talajić’s art style is not as bright and clean as Clarke’s, giving a darker, shadowy approach that results in the bleak, horror elements of the story coming further into focus.

| Published by AfterShock

Seven to Eternity #13 returns from its own lengthy delay to conclude the arc in Skod, with the revelation of part of Adam’s choice to save the Mud King. It reiterates the theme since the beginning that there seem to be no good choices in this world, that everything tainted, despite Adam’s father believing the world black and white. While we are going into another trade break, Rick Remender, Jerome Opeña, Matt Hollingsworth, and Rus Wooton consistently make this worth the wait.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Sharkey: The Bounty Hunter #1 is the latest of Mark Millar’s Netflix feeder series, after The Magic Order and Prodigy, with Simone Bianchi and Peter Doherty rounding out the team. This one feels a bit like if Warren Ellis were writing Strontium Dog, and it works. The artwork from Bianchi is worth it on its own. Gorgeous character designs.

| Published by Image

Venom #11 is another holy crap issue from Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, Joshua Cassara, JP Mayer, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles. There are some really big revelations about Eddie and his family that really need to be read firsthand. Amazing work.

| Published by Marvel

X-O Manowar #24 reminds us again just how good of an artist and storyteller Tomás Giorello is. The action sequences and battle between Aric and Hesnid is incredible, with fairly inventive layouts that just elevate the overall impact of the pages. Giorello and Diego Rodriguez really make this something joyous to behold.

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: American Carnage #4, Bitter Root #4, Black Badge #7, The Black Order #4, Breakneck #3, Coda #9, Death Orb #5, DuckTales #18, East of West #41, Evolution #14, Exorsisters #5, Go Bots #4, Grumble #4, High Level #1, Hot Lunch Special #5, Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter #2, Jim Henson’s Beneath the Dark Crystal #5, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Discovery Adventure, Jughead: The Hunger #12, Lightstep #4, The Lone Ranger #5, Lucifer #5, Lumberjanes #59, Mars Attacks #5, Monstress #20, Outpost Zero #7, Rainbow Brite #4, Shuri #5, Solo: A Star Wars Story #5, Star Wars Adventures #18, Starcraft: Soldiers #2, Stronghold #1, Sukeban Turbo #4, Superb #17, TMNT: Urban Legends #10, Teen Titans #27, Turok #2, The Unstoppable Wasp #5, The Witcher: Of Flesh and Flame #3

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man - Volume 2: Friends & Foes, Bedtime Games, The Beauty - Volume 5, Black Lightning: Brick City Blues, Captain America - Volume 1: Winter in America, Days of Hate - Volume 2, High Crimes, Infinity 8 - Volume 3: The Gospel According to Emma, Old Man Hawkeye - Volume 2: The Whole World Blind, The Punisher - Volume 1: World War Frank, West Coast Avengers - Volume 1: Best Coast

d. emerson eddy would do anything for a Klondike bar, but he won’t do that.

#This Week in Comics

[softgrungeprophet]

who wants my thoughts on the way the 2000′s comics tried to remove the gayness of the 90s?

No one?

Too bad, here’s a bunch of half-formulated words

Gonna preface this to say this is not an essay, or on par with an essay; there are no citations or picture examples, it’s just me working through my thoughts, reformatted for clarity from the original twitter thread I made on my private

Part One of Two, or: Eddie is Queer:

I’ve actually changed my mind a little bit on this and I think Eddie is definitely queer in some way (possibly bi) but more specifically, I went from “Flash is queer-coded” to “Flash is extremely deeply situated in several closets” including but not necessarily limited to: the gay one

Part Two: Erasing Queerness from Venom and Demonizing Mental Illness:

I was thinking about early Venom's queer-coding annnnddd....

I wonder if they did Flash, originally, because they wanted to get rid of Eddie. (Subconsciously, most likely, not necessarily so dastardly as "let's get rid of this guy")  

I mean, even before Remender seemingly killed Eddie off in his Agent Venom run (ofc, eddie brock never dies)—

with the Anti-Venom stuff, I mean. It all came out of the cancer+abandonment arc established in those early 2000s Spider-Man comics.

But I mean...Okay.

So, in the 90s, Venom with Eddie Brock was very clearly queer-coded and then just straight up acknowledged in The Hunger, with the Valentine's chocolates and the heart shaped "The End" bubble

Then in the 00s, they re-characterized the symbiote to be abusive, manipulative, and cruel (and ... suddenly very talkative) and separated them from each other

leaving eddie with his cancer and the somewhat upsetting (for me, at least) depiction of his mental illness/depression and suicide attempt in The Last Temptation while the symbiote was? elsewhere.

Then eddie became the evangelical Anti-Venom, loathing the symbiote, who was chemically lobotomized to be with Flash Thompson.

So Eddie Brock, the one who was depicted as adoring their union, was made to hate it and *fear* it, while the symbiote was reduced to a mindless thing with no agency of its own (after having been turned into a cruel monster), and given to Flash, the medal-of-honor war vet and peter's best friend.

(Not a *weirdo* like that Eddie Brock guy)

(sarcasm)

(disclaimer: I love Flash Thompson. I am not hating on him, also he’s probably gay)

I don't want to conspire but I do think that homophobia and queerphobia, whether recognized as such or internalized or whatever, probably had a hand in the early aughts Spider-Man Venom arcs, and probably in the Anti-Venom stuff, at the very least residually.

And Flash is the golden (straight) boy--joke's on them, I can queer anything I touch, like some kind of gay Midas. Flash Ain’t Straight. Like, wow, is that boy not straight.

Anyway I think it’s notable how they attempted to separate these characters, thus removing they gay, but it turns out both halves contributed to the queerness so, big shocker, other forms of Venom stay pretty queer, and Eddie too... stays pretty queer.

ALSO relevant: mental illness stigmas.

Like Eddie, Flash has been shown to be clinically depressed. However, he often expresses it in this kind of (often but not always) outwardly directed, acceptably masculine manner--he has anger issues and he struggles with alcoholism and he lashes out or he broods alone in his apartment. blah blah blah (I do think his story is compelling, but I do also think it is very rooted in heterosexual masculinity)

This is how men are "supposed" to be.

Eddie on the other hand, while often ALSO very masculine in his depression--pushing responsibility onto others, obsessing over vengeance, etc—there is a difference. To me, his depression reads as very inward-facing. He cries openly, has serious internalized self-worth issues and craves physical and emotional contact, and has a history of suicide—traits which are sometimes considered (by hetero-patriarchal standards) "weak" and "pathetic" (ugh) (don't hug, don't show your emotions, don't let anyone see your weaknesses, don't be a coward)

Plus, Eddie's mental illness was used to twist into a kind of big scary monster in The Last Temptation.

And the thing is... that kind of stuff IS scary... can BE very scary, for the person struggling with mental illness, depression, etc.  But their direction with it (Last Temptation in particular) was voyeuristic and weirdly infantilizing, in a way that rubbed me the wrong way. I think it had potential to actually do something valuable and thoughtful but those three arcs of the early to mid 2000s felt... the best way I can describe it is "unkind."

Really the big big big difference feels like Flash’s depression and struggles were treated way more thoughtfully than Eddie’s have ever been.

I didn't really have a clean wrap-up for this thread when I posted it on twitter.

It's just like

In summary:

1) Eddie is queer-coded (also Flash is too)

2) Venom as a relationship is undeniably queer-coded, and I think the early 2000s (subconsciously or fully aware, it's hard to say) saw that and did not like that, and thought (erroneously) that removing the symbiote would remove that symbolism (not taking into account that eddie himself is just as crucial to the queer coding as the symbiote is)

3) The early 2000s did not treat mental illness well, which is not surprising, but still sucks.

  IDK, as mentally ill queer person who's lived in poverty my entire life and whose dad was not there for me (classic, I know), there's a lot about Eddie's (honestly, frequently tragic) story and life that is highly relatable (despite him being a big grumpy man who's wanted by like, the FBI and shit), and I would like to see a mini or series that carefully explores those aspects of his character, for once.

Just something, someday, that deals with Eddie's depression AND queerness AND poverty in an honest and thoughtful way.

I’m not holding my breath, though.

#nadia reads venom #nadia rambles #i originally tweeted this on private so it's pretty train-of-thought #that's not the right phrase but i can't remember what the right phrase is #something about minds... brain..... ???? #stream of consciousness--that's what i was thinking #long post #just in case

[glittergummy]

question: are venom and eddie actually a thing in the comics?? is that actually canon? :O

Now, I’d say that’s up for debate? At least not until recently in the 2018 comics, but before that, it was a bit ‘eeh’ on whether it was a romantic relationship. I guess this could go between it being platonic as well, but unknown since they both come from different planets and the symbiote itself is asexual, while most of its species do not care for their host but only for the food and nourishment it provides. 

It’s also that we never really got to hear the symbiote’s side of things, if it was trickery or not, if it felt more for Peter. Especially with them being a smooth talker, it can be hard to believe what is real and what is not.

I’ll give some examples however, that I think does in fact prove it was romantic or at least a deep relationship more than just buddy-buddy (under the cut for spacing reasons): 

(Hand hold scene in Venom: The Hunger, page 3, issue 1)

( Reunion moment in Venom: The Hunger, page 21, issue 3)

( Heart box of chocolates gift and the big hearted romantic bubble ‘the end’ in Venom: The Hunger, page 23, issue 4)

(Random Bystander Symbiosis thoughts in Venom: Separation Anxiety, page 4-7, issue 3)

There’s probably a lot I’m missing, but you can also ask more and I’ll go through my comics again! It’s hard to really tell for them since the relationship to me was a bit rocky, at least in writing. Sometimes it was kinda healthy, sometimes it wasn’t. Sometimes it wasn’t for the good of both of them, sometimes it was all the symbiote’s greed.

It got a lot of confusing to me sometimes, but when 2018 came out I did decide this line on this page did it for me.

( Three little words in Venom (2018), page 20, issue 6)

 But I like to say from this, yes, they were in a relationship, and depending on universe and timeline, they still are.

#venom #symbiote #long post/ #Anonymous

[dunamanticarchivist]

The Munchkin Nein - Falconet Fjord

Explaining this series

Wew real life is pretty time consuming, my week of travel has been kicking my arse in time management, barely had time to catch c2e23 on thursday. Nevertheless, here I am with today’s episode of the Munchkin Nein.

A falconet is a smaller falcon (and also has the same number of letters as falchion). It is also used to refer to a type of early cannon mounted on ships for combat. I was a bit indecisive over Frigatebird or Fregatidae but those sound a little too bland or esoteric, so I settle for falconets. 

Fjordy the Texblade is a level 5 warlock. One of the most surprising thing about him is that his patron is not, the Great Old One that the Cthulhian seeming entity that appears in his dreams, but instead a sword possessing spirit. Not entirely sure how this works out in the lore, but just like Fjord himself, there is a whole ton we don’t know yet.

What we do know is the ass-kicking our Texan accented warlock can dish out on a regular basis. First off, he wields the magical Wastehunter falchion (barnacles and creepy eye included). It does d8 slashing damage one handed, d10 for two. Fjord does hold a standard shield, giving him +2 AC. Not sure on how they play the rules with regards to 2 handing the sword in one turn and having the shield bonus in the same turn. Does Fjord have to spend his interaction stowing the shield to 2 hand the falchion? Or is the shield more like a buckler that can be brought to bear at anytime? I believe atm it is the latter case and Travis not exploiting the ruling to max out all the time, and instead using 2 hands whenever RP dictates.

As a Hexblade, Fjord adds his CHA mod of 4 rather than his puny STR mod of 0 to attack rolls and damage. Additionally, the Wastehunter adds d8 (i believe from ep22) damage against monstrosities and big creatures.

Finally, at level 5, Fjord chose the eldritch invocation Thirsting Blade, giving him an additional attack, bringing him nearly up to the melee capabilities of the other melee fighters of the Nein (molly, beau, yasha)

Crucially, this melee capability is equalled by the ranged power given by the cantrip Eldritch Blast. With a comfortable 120 feet of range, Fjord constitutes a vital part of the Nein’s reliable ranged output, doing d10 force damage. Being level 5, Fjord issues two such blasts every time he casts this cantrip. He has also augmented the output with the invocation Agonizing Blast, adding his CHA mod of 4 to the damage roll. He can even cast it while wielding his falchion and shield thanks to the War Caster feat (q.v) [google that i just learnt this notation today]. Can’t wait for the day Travis plays the double eldritch blast like a double quick draw with a pair of finger guns like them Texan cowboys do.

Now back to the crunch, the above are the regular things Fjord can always do, leaving him a dangerous threat even after prolonged combat. As a half-orc, his criticals are more dangerous, giving an additional dice roll (d10 or d8 for eldritch blast/2hand falchion or one hand falchion respectively). And he doesn’t go down easy. Once each day, if he is reduced to 0 HP, he instead stay at 1 HP allowing him to disengage if his turn comes up next, or Jester’s to heal him. I believe concentration on his spells is not automatically broken if he uses this racial ability. Also, I think its worth mentioning that half-orcs have advantage on Intimidation checks. Considering Fjord’s charisma is 18, its worth a go scaring enemies into submission, flight or just for the fun of it. But Fjord seems more into charm than fear tactics. For now. 

Now speaking about spells, warlocks have a more unusual economy in that they have far fewer slots, all at the highest level available, and are recovered on a short rest. At the moment, Fjord has 2 Level 3 spell slots. Just 2. Thus he has to be pretty tactical and careful with his spell choice, not hurl them willy nilly like Jester and Caleb can. 

Choice wise he has 6 to choose from, on top of his other cantrips of Minor Illusion and Booming Blade.

Minor Illusion allows Fjord to get creative in combat, though with his existing combat options he doesn’t really need to, to gain the edge. Booming Blade’s effectiveness can be in question. It costs an action and allows a single melee attack to be made. At level 5, a successful hit causes the target to suffer the usual d8/d10 + 4 slashing, as well as d8 thunder damage. In addition, if the target moves willingly after being struck, it suffers 2d8 thunder damage. The trade off between the cantrip and the two melee strikes is as follows:

Cantrip: 1 attack roll, d8/d10 +4 + d8 + 2d8 (conditional upon target moving willingly).  Min damage if hit: 6

Average if conditions met, attack hits (assuming one hand strike): 22

Average if conditions met, attack hits (assuming two hand strike):  23

Average if conditions unmet, attack hits (assuming one hand strike): 13

Average if conditions unmet, attack hits (assuming two hand strike) : 14

2 attacks: 2 attack rolls, 2 x (d8/d10 +4). Min damage if both hit: 10

Average if one attacks hits (assuming one hand strike): 8.5  

Average if both attacks hit (assuming one hand strike): 17

Average if one attacks hits (assuming two hand strike): 9.5  

Average if both attacks hit (assuming two hand strike): 19

Therefore, Booming Blade is best utilized if for some reason, Fjord can only make a single attack (slowed, opportunity attack etc). It would obviously be very helpful if the monster will obligingly shift its arse after being struck (intimidation maybe? does that count? idk) It will also depend on how easy the target is to hit. In summary I think one could say Booming Blade is higher risk, higher reward than two straight attacks. 

Someone has helpfully pointed out that the spell Blink works wonderfully in conjunction with this cantrip, since phasing out into the Ethereal plane generally forces the enemy to re-position in the material plane, triggering the bonus damage from the cantrip. If not for Thirsting Blade, Booming Blade would be the staple of Fjord’s melee routine. 

Onto the very important spells. I will discuss these spells at level 3, since at the moment (and up till level 7) all of Fjord’s spells will be cast at this level. 

Armor of Agathys  Gives 15 temporary hit points and does 15 cold damage to the attacker on being hit in melee. This makes Fjord a tank. A very spiky tank on the level of the venom troll faced in ep 21 and 23. In fact, that damage is nearly the maximum of what the troll puts out (though only triggered by melee attacks) The additional 15 HP can come in clutch. The only drawback is that the spell only lasts an hour, so Fjord can’t really prep it at the start of the day, rest up to regain the spell slot and wade in. It will take much more precise planning or signalling to read that flow of the story, almost to the point of metagaming. Or unless Fjord is raring for a fight. 

Hex One of Fjord’s bonus action possibilities, it gives additional d6 necrotic damage on Fjord’s successful hits. Also, one of the ability scores of the target is chosen. An ability check made with the chosen score is made at disadvantage for the duration of the spell. Which happens to be 8 hours. Though Fjord must maintain concentration for that duration. With a range of 90 feet, that could be a good way of initiating combat. Note, it is ability checks that are at disadvantage, not saves which are more often used in combat. However, checks do still occur such as STR checks for grapple contests, WIS for perception for the hiding Nott maybe? This could lend it to a more non-violent, yet hostile approach. Also, if the target is reduced to 0 HP, Fjord can use a bonus action to transfer it to another target.

Witch Bolt Not a very impressive spell in my personal opinion, save perhaps for the raw damage. 3d12 lightning damage on hit (avg 19.5). On following turns, if concentration is maintained, Fjord can use his action to automatically inflict 1d12 lightning damage. Not doing so ends the spell. Whose range is 30 feet and must be maintained. And the target must stay out of total cover. In terms of damage trade off it would win against Eldritch blast for the first round, then never again, unless the target is nigh impossible to hit and auto hits are valuable. Against the other spells that compete for the precious spell slots.....the medium run utility can be questionable. Unless its raw damage you’re looking for. 

Crown of Madness Pretty useless against a single target. Can be useful against enemies that attack in concert. A humanoid must make a WIS save, or suffer the charmed condition, using its action before moving to make a melee attack against another creature (excluding itself and Fjord). If it does not, it can act normally. At the end of its turns, it can make another WIS save, and Fjord has to spend his action maintaining control, on top of concentration. Thus only when the creature has adjacent enemies (of the Nein) to attack and can deal more damage than Fjord, will this spell be mechanically valuable. However, for most humanoids, having an ally turn against them can play a very strategic role in combat, sowing mistrust and scattering them. They could even egg on the infighting to gain a further advantage. 

Hunger of Hadar Thar’ be Cthulhu! Or Hadar as D&D calls it. Concentration, 150 feet range, 20 foot radius void of darkness and tentacles. Nasty voices audible within an extra 30 feet. Within this 20 foot void, creatures are blinded, insufficiently magically powerful light cannot illuminate it or dispel the darkness. Also, is difficult terrain. Starting the turn in it causes 2d6 cold damage. Ending the turn inside forces a DEX save (on DC 15) or else 2d6 acid damage. Range wise it is the longest option available to Fjord, and also acts a way of terrain control. The damage is....alright, not stellar but the tune of 14 damage a turn sounds decent if lumbering or CC’ed foes are kept penned in the area. Probably more useful in isolating targets than actually killing them. 

Blink  A very well RP’ed spell by Travis. When I first read the spell, I almost dismissed it as non-combat viable. But then someone on reddit pointed out the defensive value of disappearing between your turns, with 10 feet of teleportation to boot. The need to roll 11 and above makes it a little unreliable, but if the dice are hot like Fjord’s on his first use in ep22, it can really take the heat off. Therefore, it should not be used in conjunction with Armor of Agathys, since that rewards being hit. 

I left out Wrathful Smite as listed on critrole stats since Fjord could only have gained a second level 3 spell at level 5 by exchanging one of his previously known spells. Also, we have never seen Fjord use it, nor should he since it isn’t particularly effective. I may have to speculate on which spell he will trade off in his next level up, but I’ll leave it till then. 

Also, all the spells bar Blink and Armor of Agathys requires Fjord to maintain concentration. Which his War Caster feat greatly helps with, giving him advantage to CON saves to maintain it. With a CON mod of +2, he has held on in many crucial situations. The final part of the War Caster feat allows Fjord to cast a single hostile target spell in place of an opportunity of attack, enabling Booming Blade, Witch Bolt or Crown of Madness to be used as a reaction. 

If you think that’s all for Fjord, nope! His subclass grants him yet another feature. Hexblade’s Curse is a bonus action, 30 feet. 1 min duration. Not concentration, but ends if target dies or Fjord dies/incapacitated. This gives the bonus of proficiency (+3) in damage rolls against the target. Crits are 19s and 20s instead of just 20s (Fjord’s crits are also nastier than most). If the target dies, Fjord heals 9 HP. Once per short/long rest, so basically a specific extra spell slot that he can be relatively liberal in using. 

Finally, it should be mentioned that Fjord is a contender for the tank-iest of the Nein with 51 HP, AC 17 with a shield due to his cloak of protection. Armor of Agathys brings him up to an impressive 66 HP at level 5, while Hexblade’s Curse if activated by the death of an enemy turns them into a helpful health potion (9 HP of healing). (thanks to ehdubyah for reminding me HBC can’t be transferred on death, unlike Hex)

Mechanically, Fjord is a very well rounded character. Comfortable both at range and in the thick of it, he has the sustainability and versatility to engage with the many possible situations the Nein will run into during their adventures. This possibly leads to Fjord being a natural leader, as some have suggested, due to his adaptability and ability to do something in any given situation. Although, his WIS mod is -1, which makes him as wise as Yasha is charming (awkward aasimar that we all love). Also, I have to constantly remind myself he is STR 11, instead of Travis Willingham STR 20++.

Love yall, and we are on the Internet today cos Talks Machina with Matt and Sam! Interestingly July 3 and 5 they’d be off; with 4th of July they’ll be able to take a well deserved holiday. And if I’m not mistaken isn’t Laura and Travis’ baby coming in the first week of July? What a strange coincidence of timings. Still, super hyped for their new studio. 

#critical role #cr2 #cr2 spoilers #kinda not really #the munchkin nein #d&d #theorycraft #math hammer #fjord #texblade #warlock #mine

[megaweapon]

Part 2 of the Hunger covers issues #3-#4. If you’re just finding this, check out Part 1. Venom School session 2 continues under the cut.

And, if there were any doubt as to whether or not this was some kind of love story between Eddie and the symbiote...

This goofy-ass moment is the part of this series that’s stuck with me the most through the years. The bizarre romantic tension (LOVE AND DEATH), the EDGY 90S ART AND DIALOGUE, the unrealistically Liefeld-esque huge guns-and-tech, I love it. it’s so fucking dumb and I love it, honestly.

LOOK AT THIS SHIT.

Another example of our hilariously over-the-top villain Dr. Paine.

He’s just fucking eatin brains. Why? Cos he’s EVIL, REMEMBER? HE’S EVIL, IN CASE YOU FORGOT. And does this mean some Hannibal “Lechter’ is canon to this universe? Hmm...

So, Eddie finally manages to corner the symbiote. One of its big weaknesses, next to sonic attacks, is fire, so of course he brought a flamethrower to the party (as you can see above). Rather than try to kill it, though, he tries, at first, to reason with it.

That grimace. So grim and dark. It’s so stupid. I love it so much. Also, this is a love story. A battle ensues, in which Eddie pursues the symbiote and basically whoops its ass with fire and sonics. When he has it at his mercy, though, he doesn’t finish it off.

He’s got a bottle full of brain juice for his significant other. The symbiote scarfs it down and they have themselves a little moment.

Phenethylamine is produced by the brain when you’re in love, guys.

Immediately after this page, Dr. Paine springs his inexplicable trap, and the symbiote is dragged back to his sanitarium for his own nefarious purposes. it takes literally one page. Issue #4 opens up with Eddie escaping from his “contingency plan.” it’s 1996. What do you think the contingency plan is?

It could only ever have been an explosion. So, Eddie fights his way through some punks and hares off after his other. The symbiote, meanwhile, is painfully experimented on by Dr. Paine. Eddie, of course, can sense this, and it only fuels his rage and determination. He fights his way through the guards and catches up with the symbiote at last.

Spib.

This is a love story.

So, some guards rush in, and Eddie fights them off. During the battle he throws one of them into the symbiote’s containment chamber and, of course, the two of them waste no time.

Venom reformed proceeds to do what he does best, which is kick ass and, apparently, sing some David Bowie while doing it.

When he gets his claws on Dr. Paine, he’s informed that Dr. Paine can’t actually feel anything because of a mishap with some “experimental anesthetics.” Physical torture isn’t what venom plans, though--he shoots his tentacles right up the bad doctor’s nose and sucks out all the phenethylamine, leaving Dr. Paine in the desperate state that Eddie was in at the comic’s beginning.

Dr. Paine’s reign of terror is brought to an ignoble end.

The comic concludes with Eddie walking back through the streets, seeing things as they actually are, freed from his nightmare vision of the world. He also happens to find a better source of phenethylamine than human brains!

Thus ends The Hunger. A love story.

#venom #marvel #megaweapon's venom school

[pigmentation21]

Arsenicum album 30 vedas cure

Arsenicum album 30

Presentation and History: Arsenic is popular as a cure from antiquated occasions; in times past it was utilized as a medication in India and China. It is likewise contrasted and a race of ponies because of its fretfulness. It is extremely venomous when taken in lethal portions. Arsenicum Album is perhaps the most every now and again utilized drugs in both constant just as intense illnesses.

Portrayal: It is a straightforward and white glasslike powder or undefined bump, have no scent except for stable in air. It is progressively dissolvable in water. The shapeless assortment is more dissolvable on the off chance that we contrast it and glasslike assortment. The cure is dissolvable in liquor somewhat and totally solvent in glycerine. It very well might be acquired by broiling certain arsenic metals. It isn't offered to everyday citizens since it is toxic.

Constitution and Physiognomy: Patient is extremely powerless, lean and slight, particular, crippled, contains an anxious, depressed face. Skin is messy and waxy in nature.

Illnesses From: Tobacco biting, misery, having frozen yogurt, bug chomps, trepidation, shock, ptomaine harming, rotted food, by burning-through liquor.

Seat of Action (Pharmacodynamics): Mind, liver, stomach related framework, heart, nerves, lungs, blood, respiratory framework, lymphatic organs, spleen, mucous film, skin and so on

Physiological Action

It is venomous and demonstrates lethal when taken in physiological deadly dosages, yet functions as a medication when arranged homeopathically.

Applied to the skin, arsenic goes about as a scathing and causes fierce aggravation with sloughing of parts. At the point when little portions are burned-through inside it tonically affects the sensory system and course, can build the progression of spit and gastric and intestinal juices, invigorating peristalsis and working on stomach related and nutritive capacities.

Harmful portions cause rough gastroenteritis with sickness, heaving and loose bowels; dryness of the mouth and throat with consuming sensation in the stomach.

The heart gets peevish and frail; greasy degeneration of the heart muscles happen subsequently.

Red corpuscles of blood are diminished in number and the blood gets less coagulated or coagulable.

The pee gets inadequate, albuminous and wicked; the skin is dry and scurfy. This is joined by herpetic, eczematous or urticarious ejections, tanning and shedding.

Hair and nails might fall.

The sensory system is additionally significantly influenced by issues of engine and tactile capacities and sorrow of the respiratory focuses, quakes and various neuritis.

Poisonous dosages lead to the internal heat level, albeit the limits are cold.

Passing from arsenical harming follows weariness and breakdown.

The toxic substance is found in the pee, salivation, tears and sweat.

Greasy degeneration as a rule, influencing stomach, liver, kidneys, heart and muscles especially.

Physio-obsessive Changes (Pathology)

It deals with the mucous layer of the wholesome trench and causes cholera-like side effects.

It chips away at lymphatic and different organs, creating induration, festering; likewise delivers aggravation and growing with consuming agony.

Chips away at skin and causes consuming, tingling ejections and ulcers. It fills in as an acidic and causes brutal irritation with sloughing of parts.

Deals with blood delivering ecchymosis, slight drain and now and again, septic changes.

Because of its activity, it produces abrupt thinness; skin is pale and waxy with general anasarca (general expanding of the body).

Deals with joints causing expanding and consuming torment.

Heart gets bad tempered and frail. Greasy degeneration of the heart muscles starts. Red corpuscles of blood decline in number and the blood is delivered less thickened or coagulable.

Pee gets insufficient, albuminous and wicked.

In little portions, it expands the progression of spit, gastric and intestinal juices, animating peristalsis, working on stomach related and nutritive capacities.

The sensory system is significantly influenced by issues of engine and tactile capacities and despondency of respiratory capacities.

In practically all organs, greasy degeneration starts.

Poisonous portions cause fierce gastroenteritis with queasiness, spewing and looseness of the bowels.

Trademark Mental Symptoms (Psychology)

Individual is intellectually fretful, exceptionally restless and anguished.

Incredible dread of death when alone, terrified of hitting the hay at 12 PM.

Patient is amazingly demanding, longs for everything slick, perfect and all together. Consequently, Arsenicum is known as 'a gold headed stick patient.'

He imagines that he will pass on because of his sickness is serious and there is no utilization of taking prescriptions.

Shortcoming of memory, miserable and terrible.

Patient gets bedclothes since he sees a wide range of worms in bed.

Choose to end it all, feelings of dread he should kill somebody.

Repugnance for individuals, doesn't have any desire to blend in with individuals, feels that he has harmed them.

Fantasy of sight and smell.

Patient is exceptionally discouraged, melancholic and unfortunate.

Dreams of fire, tempests, passing and haziness.

Strict craziness, in daze and during rest; he cries and shouts in view of torment.

Can't discover rest anyplace (anxiety), changes place ceaselessly. Needs to move between different beds.

Patient is too frail to even consider moving.

He is exceptionally conceited and needs boldness.

Trademark Physical Guiding Symptoms

Surrender: Weakness, incredible surrender, anxiety with sinking of essential power.

Tension: Anxiety with fretfulness and dread of death.

Thirst: Burning and insatiable hunger for little amounts of cold water at short spans joined by regurgitating.

Consuming: External and interior consuming all around the body; consuming torment gets help from heat, hot applications and hot beverages, influenced parts consume like fire,

Putridity: Discharges from the body are rank in nature and the scent of the release is cadaveric.

Periodicity: Complaints return intermittently; for instance, ordinary, each third day, each fourth day, each fortnight, consistently and so forth

Acridity: All emissions and discharges are bitter and abrade the parts; even their touch causes copying and redness.

Dryness: Internal and outside parts get exceptionally dry. Skin gets unpleasant; even the lips are dry and broken in light of dryness.

Dying: Bleeding from lungs, nose, bubbles, uterus, kidneys, throat, and so forth; every part drains easily.

Wilting: Pale face, wrinkled skin, rashly old looking.

Dyspnea: Difficulty in breathing; asthma, additionally dyspnea; exasperates around evening time. Suffocation with tension.

Savagery: Sudden aggravation; rough and abrupt erysipelatous irritation; parts unexpectedly get gangrenous joined by checked, abrupt shortcoming.

Touchiness: Stomach is truly touchy, all that comes out in the wake of burning-through it in, even water is heaved however the patient beverages just tastes of Water at continuous spans.

Right-sideness: It is a right sided medication; objections generally start from the right side, in light of the fact that the right side is dominatingly influenced.

Affectability: Patient is exceptionally touchy to light, all commotions, talking, contact, smell, and so on

Dread: Great dread of death, imagines that he is encountering a hopeless illness and there is no utilization of taking medication; so won't take any medication.

Puffiness: Edematous growing of the face, eyelids, lower limits, organs and general anasarca; skin is pale and waxy.

Skinniness: There is quick and abrupt starvation of the body parts.

Faintness: Nausea and faintness from the smell of fish, meat and eggs in light of the fact that these food varieties are hypersensitive to him.

Loose bowels: Diarrhea in the wake of burning-through cool beverages, frozen yogurt, cold food, and so on

Fretfulness: Patient is exceptionally anxious, too frail to even consider strolling truly. It is one of the Nash's Trio of Restlessness.

Significant Characteristic Features

Asthma: Asthma deteriorates at 12 PM. Suffocative catarrh, consuming in the chest. Expectoration is sparse and foamy. Hack deteriorates after 12 PM and turns out to be more awful lying on back. Consuming torment everywhere; haemoptysis; dry hack; incapable to rests; grumblings with fretfulness and surrender; scared of suffocation.

Fever: High tempearture. Periodicity set apart with pity; loss of motion inadequate; septic fever; with checked weariness. Cold perspiration, roughage fever, extraordinary warmth around 3 am, finished anxiety. There is a whole picture of death while fever – eyes are depressed; mouth and tongue are dark, broken, sore even the gums and teeth drain during fever.

The runs: Gastric issues from frozen yogurt, cold food, ice water, wieners and cocktails. Stools are harsh, insufficient, watery and hostile with heaving and consuming in the mid-region; hepatomegaly with retching and the runs. Loose bowels – grisly, dull and extremely hostile in nature. The skin around the rear-end gets harmed on account of looseness of the bowels. All grumblings are joined by dread of death.

Cholera: It is generally excellent solution for cholera. The primary reasons are burning-through rotted food, ptomaine harming, frozen yogurt, harsh brew, etc. Cholera stools resemble the water of rice in shading and contain an exceptionally hostile smell, checked fretfulness and nervousness with incredible shortcoming and surrender; loose bowels deteriorates at 12-2 am around evening time. On occasion, the shade of the stool is blackish; patient is extremely particular with a serious hunger for cold water in little amounts at short stretches. Consuming sensation all around the body barring head; nervousness with dread of death.

Thirst, sickness and retching: In this medication, there is a voracious hunger for cold water is available and little amounts of water at short spans. The patient beverages tastes of cold water all the time. Indeed, even the smell of the food can cause sickness and retching; the patient beverages cold water yet because of the crabbiness in stomach it causes quick regurgitating. The patient is anxious alongside nervousness.

Fretfulness: It is a standout amongst other homeopathic meds for anxiety. The patient is intellectually fretful however actually too powerless to even think about moving, can't rest in any spot. He additionally changes place ceaselessly and needs to be moved starting with one bed then onto the next. The more noteworthy the su

[redorblue]

The Terranauts, by T. C. Boyle

There’s this one thing that I always found incredibly annoying about English books, and that German books thankfully don’t have (yet). I hate the bunch of review snippets all over the cover so. much. It screws up the cover design, it can get pretty crowded if the publishing house was really proud of this book, and it tells you absolutely nothing. Same thing on the backside: I’ve seen books that have three lines of quote from inside the book, and six quotes from reviews gushing about it. How is that supposed to help me, or make me buy it? Last time I looked, most people still buy books because they think the story or the setup is intriguing, or because they like the author, not because Person X, Author of YZA, said it’s a “triumph of the imagination”. German books don’t do that. German books have the author and the name of the book on the cover, nicely integrated into the cover art, and a synopsis and maybe a short quote on the back. Orderly. Informative. Very German, probably.

But I digress. The reason I got into this was my most recent read, The Terranauts, and not only did I find it terrible, I also have no idea which book those reviewers from the Guardian, the Times etc. read - I find it hard to believe it was the same I did. So let’s try something else and use those incredibly unhelpful literary critics to structure what I did not like about this book.

1. “Excruciatingly funny” - Times Literary Supplement

This one is the easiest: I have no idea what they are talking about. If this book was so funny, it wouldn’t have been too much to expect to laugh at least once, right? Well, I didn’t. I also didn’t chuckle, snort, giggle, smile or even lift one corner of my mouth in amusement. Because in my not so humble opinion, this book is not funny. Unless I’m supposed to laugh about this one guy lusting after whichever woman has the longest legs in the room, about this woman who falls for him nonetheless and keeps lying to herself about his shittiness, or her so-called “best friend” who takes a trip to Mexico and promptly gets diarrhea. Yeah, very funny. Not everybody has the same sense of humour and all that, but I think someone who can laugh about such things has a rather questionable one.

2. “Lord of the Flies meets Hunger Games” -  The Times

With this one I at least get why they came to that conclusion. The story is the fictional continuation of a real-life experiment conducted some time in the 90s where eight people - four men, four women - were locked into a glass dome with a self-sustaining ecosystem inside, and basically told to see how many were still walking after two years. The first, real group broke closure (= was interrupted) after a few months because of a medical emergency, which is why the fictional second group is all the more fanatic determined to not open the airlock for the full two years, whatever happens. While they’re in there farming and supposedly conducting scientific experiments (although you never learn what it is exactly they’re testing, so if you want hard science, stay away), they get media coverage from all over the US (about what, one might ask... Must have been one hell of a silly season to send reports about people milking goats... Checking humidity... catching fish... Unheard of, right?).

So yeah, I can see where that one came from: a bunch of people locked in together at close quarters, becoming increasingly hateful towards each other = Lord of the Flies. Doing it all for the media coverage, completely with donations and the participants as celebrities and merchandise = The Hunger Games. Never mind that neither the characters from Lord of the Flies nor the candidates in the Hunger Games were there willingly, whereas in this book going under the glass with seven people you already can’t stand before you even go in, slowly starving yourself, slowly asphyxiating in the winter months, without pay or plan what to do afterwards, is somehow presented as being incredibly desirable (Really, the only lucid part this book has is when the characters call this enterprise a cult, or deny it being a cult - hey, at least they said the word, and self-denial is a serious Thing among all the characters). But okay, if you say so. The thing is, in my opinions it falls short in both comparisons.

I have to admit, I’ve never read Lord of the Flies, only watched the movie, and you shouldn’t judge a book by its adaptation. But I remember that (besides the survival part) it’s about group dynamics, how groups organize under pressure, how new leaders establish new orders, and the violence that ensues. Now I’m definitely not one of those people who need a body count to enjoy a book, but this one, I have to admit, was too... tame? for me to be credible. The highest tensions ever rose was a fistfight between two characters after almost two years of being locked in, when they were half starved already and there was barely any oxygen left in the air. Sure, the rest of the time they were constantly badmouthing each other, and venomous when they had to talk about something - but really, that’s your climax, your crisis? I already mentioned that most of the crew members didn’t like each other to begin with, and of course that didn’t get better over the course of the book, but it feels a bit lame to have your characters constantly emphasize how much they hate each other (and one even threatening to kill anyone who jeopardizes the mission! Talk about a Chekov’s gun that just... never went off I guess?), and then presenting a few punches as The Worst It Can Get. Let alone not resolving anything after they finally get out. Most of the crew just disappear into thin air, which is fitting because they weren’t much more than thin air with a name tag during the entire book, and the POVs just... get on with their lives I guess. The ending really feels a bit like the author just ran out of pages, and not in the good, open-ending kind of way. There is no resolution, no discernible character arc, no epiphany, nothing. It just ends. So take this as a vivid example of how structuring does NOT work.

As for the comparison with The Hunger Games... First of all, there’s the same problem of being too tame. The Hunger Games works partly (!!) because it’s suspenseful, what with fighting and hunting and figuring stuff out and action scenes in general. The Terranauts doesn’t have anything of the sort: no secret plots to unveil, no rivals to kill (and the moral dilemma that comes with it), very little, very drawn out struggle for survival... Again, I don’t need any of this to like a book, I can do without action, but it’s the Times that made the comparison, and I’m sorry but I think The Terranauts falls short. By a mile or so. Another thing that made The Hunger Games so interesting is the role the media plays: How the games are basically just entertainment for the rich, how public images are constructed and why, how public opinion and public sentiment is influenced etc. The Hunger Games were honest about how it’s all “just” for show. The Terranauts, however, tried to keep up its pretense of being oh so scientific, while the only thing that ever gets any screentime is not experiments or hard facts, but photo ops and interviews and presentations. Which would be fine if the book ever properly dealt with the fact that it was all just a huge media stunt. But it doesn’t, it never talks about the implications of the experiment being a big, expensive reality show, it never grants its characters a moment of epiphany or a personal crisis with regards to their sacrifices not being for science and the survival of the human race, but for money and money alone. The closest the characters ever get to realizing this and instrumentalizing it is when some of them threaten the CEO to talk to the press, but none of them ever go through with it (and there’s no reason why they wouldn’t besides this ominous cult mentality thing, because some of them have been treated really badly). Not even the crew member whose responsibility is PR management ever really tries to create a public image of himself that he can use to get what he wants and influence public opinion to the disadvantage of disliked crew mates or some such. It all feels very half-baked, and that from an author who’s famous for writing real adult novels. Talk about how naive and shallow YA novels are.

3. “Heartbreakingly human” - The Guardian

God... I hope not. I think not. If this set of characters is supposed to provide us with a sample of human experiences and emotions, then it’s really time to pack my bags and go be a hermit somewhere. Also, everyone is white, with the exception of one Asian person, who coincidentally is also the only woman who is consistently described as being fat and plain and kinky-haired (fat and kinky-haired being used as decidedly denigrating terms here - god this book has so many issues). And a terrible person, but that’s true for everyone. There are two minor characters who seem to be alright, the crew physician and the crew leader, but every non-POV character is basically just walking cardboard with maybe one or two traits each (for some reason I absolutely can’t fathom, bitchy, scheming and promiscuous come to mind for every single female character). Besides that there are three POVs: one man inside, one woman inside, and one woman outside (the Asian one). They all have some common character traits: they’re hateful, spiteful, lying, scheming, unreflected, self-serving, egocentric assholes. But besides those lovely common traits, they have some others that make them loathsome in their very own way, and I can’t shake the feeling that the author took a lot of inspiration from some nasty gender stereotypes. (warning: from here on it gets spoilery)

Let’s start with the guy, Ramsay. He’s sex-obsessed in a way that he can’t form any coherent thought as soon as a pair of shapely legs and boobs with a woman attached enters the room. He’s incapable of fidelity, love, loyalty and commitment, although he constantly claims otherwise. Let me give you a few examples of his awfulness: After he breaks up with one of his crewmates (after maybe forcing himself on her? It’s not made clear. How can that not be clear.), he constantly complains how ugly and old and generally repulsive she is. That’s the only thing he has to say about her. He then starts an affair with another crewmate, and when she becomes pregnant, he blames it all on her for deceiving him and being irrational because she didn’t want to screw up her body with artificial hormones every day which apparently is to be expected from every woman. He then pressures her to have an abortion. She refuses, and he constantly thinks about how gross she is the further the pregnancy progresses. After the baby is born, he doesn’t help her whatsoever, and first chance he gets, he takes off on her although he has promised her otherwise. To top it all off, he restarts his affair with a woman from the outside crew about whom we only learn that she’s a snake with nice legs, while he’s still married to the mother of his child. I don’t think I need to add anything to that. The amount of misogyny, sexism, and patriarchal stereotypes about men as mindless sex machines (plus the corresponding view on women) all compressed into one character is baffling.

For the women there’s a bit more variation, but it doesn’t get any less nasty. Woman No. 1, Dawn, is the long-legged, full-breasted redhead beauty who gets one of the few spots inside the experiment and takes over responsibility for growing food in the fields and tending to the farmyard animals. She then gets together with Ramsay, gets pregnant and decides to carry the child against all common sense, considering that the experiment can barely produce enough calories for eight people, let alone nine, and is definitely not able to provide for the special needs of a pregnant woman or a newborn child. After Dawn’s two years are officially over, she refuses to leave the glass dome and decides to stay inside because she feels so close to nature inside, or something like that. Notice the symbolism at work here? The stereotype presented here is that of Mother Earth, fertile, providing, one with nature itself. It’s quite fitting that Dawn’s nickname, chosen by her fellow participants, is Eos (which literally means dawn). Both her names fit very well into this whole mantra that the organizers of the experiment have: to start anew, create a better world, one that sustains itself and doesn’t exploit resources but is fertile enough to to live independently (which, I’m sorry, is just not true. They rely on the local power plant to keep their ideal environment stable, they receive knowledge from the outside world, and after the two years the dome is in need of a thorough restocking because the crew killed all the farm animals and ate all the seed stocks because they were hungry.) Dawn is the archetypal woman, the one who nourishes others and gives life, is loving, beautiful and monogamous, but she also displays some negative traits that have been historically associated with women: She’s naive to the point that she doesn’t notice any negative feelings Ramsay has towards her; she’s self absorbed, like when she decides to go through with the pregnancy at the risk of the others starving; and she’s emotional in a way that’s constantly pointed out to be annoying and exaggerated (they call it weepy).

The other female POV, Linda, is presented as her foil. She’s also the only PoC character, which makes her negative portrayal doubly problematic, especially since she seems to stand in for two ethnicities: Asian (because of her Korean ancestry) and black (because of her kinky hair). We keep being told that Linda and Dawn are best friends, but there’s really no evidence in the text to support that since they’re constantly bitter, false and patronizing towards the other, in their thoughts and in their actions. Also, they mainly seem to talk about the men in their lives with each other, with Dawn as the one who has a way with men and Linda as the jealous, Fat Ugly Friend^TM. So yeah, great portrayal of a friendship between two women, since obviously men is the only thing we ever talk and care about. But besides being presented as an overall terrible person - false, needy, deceiving, the archetypal snake to Dawn’s Eve* - Linda herself also constantly emphasizes that she’s overweight and not conventionally attractive, which in her interior monologue tied together with her lack of success with men - and her race. The only valid point this book makes is that it damages your career and possibly your romantic chances, especially as the only PoC in an all-white environment. But since this point is filtered through the perspective of a character whose interior monologue is filled with constant nagging and delusions, it’s incredibly easy not to take it seriously and dismiss it as another figment of Linda’s imagination. This may not be racist in and of itself, although it definitely comes across as mocking racial awareness, but it sure starts to look like the real thing once you take all the negative comments into account that Linda makes about all her physical features that make her distinctly non-white. It also ties neatly into yet another issue this book has: body-shaming. Surprisingly (or not), this also mainly concerns the female characters and is filtered almost exclusively through the way men react to them. I got so, so tired reading about how Linda, the fat and ugly one, tries to get men to sleep with her (unsuccessfully, unless they are old and gross), while the thin, pretty women like Dawn have an entire parade of admirers (and successful careers). Also notice how personality doesn’t play any role at all in both women’s romantic success? That’s because women’s personalities don’t matter, simple as that. And it’s probably better that way, since they’re all naive and clingy or dishonest and needy anyway - in addition to being mean, which is something all characters in this book share.

The thing is, with books like this one that are just horrible with regards to sexism, racism, body-shaming and a whole host of other things, I always wonder how that happened. I don’t want to condemn the authors for all those things without having read some of their other books (which I generally don’t, because I value my time) or doing a thorough check on them (which I generally don’t do either, because I’m lazy. But I can’t help but ask myself whether these are the author’s actual views. Other options would include a critique of these issues gone wrong, or a misguided attempt to induce some historical accuracy, or ignorance. The problem is that I’m pretty sure I can exclude said other options. Historical accuracy in this case is not necessary since the book is set in the 1990s, not in the middle ages. Ignorance is a pretty weak excuse by itself, and one issue may slip under your (and your editor’s) radar, but so many...? The author of this book is a white guy, so he’s probably wearing privilege lenses, but still. Lastly, a critique would necessitate at least some attempt to contradict the views you have your characters expressing, either through the narrative or - even better - through a character themselves. I know that, and I’m a twenty-something amateur reader who sometimes tries her hand at literary critique. An author (and editor) who has been in the business for so long should definitely know that, and also how to work said critique into the story so that a casual reader would catch it. Which leaves us with option No. 1. And the reason why I regret having spent money on one of TC Boyle’s books, and why his name is another entry on my list of authors never to be read again.

*An afterthought that I’m too lazy to work in somewhere else: There is so much religious imagery in this book. It starts with the nicknames many characters in this book get, like God the Creator, Jesus, Judas, Eos etc., and culminates with this whole Garden of Eden theme that surrounds the experiment. Like with the cult thing, the book isn’t even shy to call itself out on it, but if this is not a prime example of lampshading, then I don’t know what is.

#2018 #the terranauts #tc boyle #book review

[promin-blog]

Tolkien's Ungoliant and Stephen King's It – some interesting parallels

Scene from It (1990) - the Losers confront Its ‘true’ from.

While watching the recent adaptation of Stephen King's It (2017) and reacquainting myself with King’s work in general throughout the past year (including watching some older adaptations of his books, among which was also the 1990 miniseries It), my mind was constantly going back to Ungoliant, Morgoth and the Silmarillion.

Why? Well, some of it undoubtedly has to do with my ongoing interest in Tolkien, but I also managed to find some parallels between Ungoliant and It, and Morgoth and the arch villain of the Kingverse, the Crimson King.

Long story short, enjoy me shamelessly hopping on the It bandwagon!

Warning for the arachnophobic.

So, what do Ungoliant and It have in common?

They both:

1) assume a form of a (female) spider

2) have hunger as one of their defining traits

3) use Deadlights/Darkness, a fear inducing form of 'unlight' which traps their victims (connected to the spider form), also used by the Crimson King/Morgoth

4) are ancient and have a somewhat unclear origin

5) have a loose allegiance with the Big Bad's of their universes (Morgoth/the Crimson King)

  What do Morgoth and the Crimson King have in common?

They:

1) use Darkness (Unlight)/Deadlights to achieve their ‘goals’ - Melkor uses it to steal the Silmarils and kill the Trees, and the Crimson King uses it as a weapon (according to The Dark Tower Wiki)

2) have a loose allegiance with a hungry spider-like being who also uses Darkness (Unlight) /Deadlights)

3) both are Big Bads of their respective fictional universes

4) both are trying to rewrite reality in their own image

NOTE: Others have already found some references to the Crimson King being similar to Sauron (The Dark Tower Wiki page on the Crimson King, under ‘Inspiration’). I haven’t yet come across any articles comparing him to Morgoth which I believe to be a better position (to me Randall Flagg seems like a more credible reference to Sauron, even though, of course, overlaps are possible, both because Sauron imitated Morgoth in-universe and because King could have fused them on purpose).

So, let’s first break down the similarities between It and Ungoliant.

While Ungoliant takes the form of a giant spider and is referred to as female, It's ‘final’ form is also a giant spider.

In the novel It the Losers call It the Spider (i.e. "The Spider stopped laughing", It p 4153). It also seems to be considered by the Losers as femal(ish) as they refer to It as a 'bitch'  several times ("You k-k-killed my brother, you fuh-fuh-fucking BITCH" (…) p 4099, including the somewhat paradoxical "We killed It" (…) "We killed the bitch.", It, p 4289) after discovering It's eggs (It, p 4212).

It’s spider-form was also shown overtly in the finale of the 1990 miniseries It, as a kind of a 'boss-form' for the Losers to fight:

In the new It adaptation the spider imagery is covert, but still pervasive in the way Pennywise (definitely less ambiguously masculine, in my opinion, than in the 1990 adaptation) behaves and operates. This makes ‘the spider’ more than just another of It’s many forms designed to induce fear.

For example, It lives in the sewers, which are a kind of a web. The new film puts great emphasis on this, giving us both Bill’s model of the sewers and a map of them, both of which serve as visualizations of a ‘spider-web’. The ‘sewer web’ is also in a sense ‘invisible’ (like a real spider web) because it is underground. Thus it is both a hiding place for It and a trap for It’s prey.

Furthermore, as we can see in the Losers first individual encounters with It, the prey Pennywise finds by using the sewers are paralyzed by their own fears - the fears not produced directly by It, but by the ‘mundane’ (as opposed to the ‘supernatural’) part of the plot - mostly bullies and abusive parents. Arguably, It first finds the Losers because they are afraid. Pennywise uses fear (in the new movie It smells fear) to locate its victims and moves through the sewers accordingly, like a spider traverses its own web when its prey becomes entangled in it and it feels the vibrations the prey produces. Fear, in a sense, produces ‘vibrations’ in Pennywise’s spiderweb.

Pennywise's likeness to a spider in the new adaptation is also shown in the scene where the kidnapped children are suspended in air, as if trapped in some invisible spider web, stashed in a spider’s pantry.

As we can see when Pennywise suspends Beverly Marsh in the same way, all the children there are paralyzed by fear, the aftereffect of looking directly into It's deadlights. Fear is the spider venom which keeps It’s victims paralyzed and helpless. Deadlights are like a high-concentrate fear-venom that leaves you senseless.

No matter what form It assumes, It always acts like a spider.

Stephen King Wiki says the following on this issue:

"Throughout the book It is generally referred to as male; however, late in the book, the protagonists come to believe that It may be female (due to Its manifestation as a monstrous female spider). This is, however, not Its true form, it is simply the closest the human mind can come to approximating it (…) Its natural form exists in a realm beyond the physical, which It calls the ‘deadlights‘. (…) Coming face to face with the deadlights drives any living being instantly insane."

This can be compared with the description of the darkening of Valinor and the Elves and Valar’s experience of ‘the Darkness' that Ungoliant has 'woven':

"So the great darkness fell upon Valinor. Of the deeds of that day much is told in the Aldudénië, that Elemmírë of the Vanyar made and is known to all the Eldar. Yet no song or tale could contain all the grief and terror that then befell.The Light failed; but the Darkness that followed was more than loss of light. In that hour was made a Darkness that seemed not lack but a thing with a being of its own: for it was indeed made by malice out of Light, and it had power to pierce the eye, and to enter heart and mind, and strangle the very will." (Silmarillion)

The Darkness that Morgoth unleashed on Valinor with Ungoliant’s help paralyzed the Elves and the Valar to such a degree than they couldn’t immediately pursue them.

It also interesting that, similarly to the paradoxically sounding name 'Deadlights', Ungoliant’s darkness also gets a paradoxical negative prefix - ‘un’, ('Unlight of Ungoliant' (Silmarillion p34)). Both present fear, in a sense, but in Tolkien’s case I would argue that the Darkness/Unlight presents above all fixation on the experienced loss, and not moving on creatively, still aptly shown by the spider imagery.

What also comes to mind here is Frodo’s and Sam’s confrontation with Shelob in Shelob’s Lair in The Two Towers.

The new movie’s whole 'Neibolt house hunt' sequence reminds me very much of that, mainly because Beverly gives It a really good stab in the head after which It retreats like a wounded Shelob when stabbed by Sam. Also, the tunnels of Shelob’s lair are like a 3D spider web, much like King’s town of Derry sewer system is It’s spider web, with the emphasized spacial quality - you are not on the web, you are in the web.

And, yeah, Frodo almost gets stashed in the spider’s pantry, like Beverly.

Furthermore, Tolkien describes Sam’s fear like something akin to an invisible spider web of Shelob:

"But nothing of this evil which they had stirred up against them did poor Sam know, except that a fear was growing on him, a menace which he could not see; and such a weight did it become that it was a burden to him to run, and his feet seemed leaden." (TTT, Shelob's Lair)

Sam literally has difficulty moving because of his fear. Then a little bit later he has a moment of ultimate ‘fixation’, a moment of paralyzing fear - he believes Frodo to be dead:

"‘He’s dead!’ he said. ‘Not asleep, dead!’ And as he said it, as if the words had set the venom to its work again, it seemed to him that the hue of the face grew livid green. And then black despair came down on him, and Sam bowed to the ground, and drew his grey hood over his head, and night came into his heart, and he knew no more. When at last the blackness passed, Sam looked up and shadows were about him; but for how many minutes or hours the world had gone dragging on he could not tell. He was still in the same place, and still his master lay beside him dead." (TTT, The Choices of Master Samwise)

It's like Sam took a glance at the Deadlights. Notice also how this despair is first described as 'black', which is a fairly common construction ('black despair'), but then 'blackness' is described as an entity on it's own, like it is described in The Darkening of Valinor - "a thing with a being of its own".

However, Sam manages to disentangle himself from this web – there is a moment of fixation on the experienced loss, but then he goes to the ‘underground’ (externalized by him literally being underground, in Shelob’s lair) of his own thoughts and feelings (this chapter is not named for nothing 'The Choices of Master Samwise') and manages to move on with the objective of the Fellowship's mission on his mind:

"‘But what can I do? (...) Or go on? Go on?’ he repeated, and for a moment doubt and fear shook him. ‘Go on? Is that what I’ve got to do? And leave him?’ (…)"‘What? Me, alone, go to the Crack of Doom and all?’ He quailed still, but the resolve grew. ‘What? Me take the Ring from him? The Council gave it to him.’ But the answer came at once: ‘And the Council gave him companions, so that the errand should not fail. And you are the last of all the Company. The errand must not fail.’" (TTT)

At this moment Sam passes Tolkien’s ethical test - he is able to ‘go on’, even after a crippling loss.

So, that would be points 1) and 3).

2) hunger as a defining trait

Hunger is also a big parallel here. Pennywise practically only sleeps (hibernates) and eats, and Ungoliant (just like her offspring Shelob) is always hungry. She ate the Trees’s sap. She tried to eat Morgoth and the Silmarils:

'Blackheart!' she said. 'I have done thy bidding. But I hunger still.' (Silm)

She even ate her sex partners:

“(...) other foul creatures of spider form had dwelt there since the days of the delving of Angband, and she mated with them, and devoured them”

And, in the end, probably herself:

“Of the fate of Ungoliant no tale tells. Yet some have said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last.”

In the novel, Pennywise describes itself in terms of it’s hunger:

“(…) I am the eater of worlds, and of children. And you are next!”

I didn’t address everything I listed in this post, in particular, those last two parallels between Ungoliant and It:

4) they are ancient and have a somewhat unclear origin

5) they have a loose allegiance with the Big Bad's of their universes (Morgoth/the Crimson King).

These are tightly connected with the second list that explains the parallels between Morgoth and the Crimson King so I will elaborate on them together in my next post.

Thank you for reading this.

#it #stephen king #silmarillion #lotr #melkor #meta #analysis

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 20 August 2018

Quick Bits:

Aphrodite V #2 is pretty damn great. Jeff Spokes’ artwork is instantly compelling, drawing in the reader with darkness and interesting angles into this increasingly enthralling story of a machine cult from the future by him and Bryan Hill.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Avengers #6 concludes the first arc in widescreen fashion. Lots of action and big ideas from Jason Aaron with gorgeous art from Ed McGuinness, Paco Medina, Mark Morales, Juan Velasco, and David Curiel. Again I’m reminded of those early issue of JLA from Grant Morrison and Howard Porter. This has been fun so far and I’m intrigued by what else they have in store.

| Published by Marvel

Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs & Eldritch Men #1 is a very welcome return, even without Jill Thompson for this go around. The artwork from Benjamin Dewey is beautiful as he reminds us that he’s one of the best nature artists in comics, and possible beyond. His animals are just stunning. The story from him and Evan Dorkin is also interesting, suggesting some arcane traps luring in the paranormal. Great stuff for all ages.

| Published by Dark Horse

Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack #12 concludes the series with an epic battle between the forces of heaven and hell as it teaches us the true meaning of friendship. It’s funnier when you actually read it. This has been an entertaining series from John Carpenter, Anthony Burch, Jorge Corona, Gabriel Cassata, and Ed Dukeshire, with this final chapter also delivering a nice farewell to the movie as well.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Black Hammer: Age of Doom #4 has some very interesting revelations that ultimately only lead to more questions than answers. What’s going on isn’t nearly as cut and dried as we were led to believe last issue and the mystery has just deepened. Jeff Lemire, Dean Ormston, Dave Stewart, and Todd Klein have managed to elevate this story higher again.

| Published by Dark Horse

Black Panther #3 finally parcels out a tidbit of what might actually be going on with the series and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, just in time for a surprise attack and more action. Thankfully, the art from Daniel Acuña is still overwhelmingly gorgeous.

| Published by Marvel

Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #2 is even better than the first issue. The mystery deepens as Antonius and Achillia reach Egypt and find incongruities they don’t expect within this province of the Roman Empire. The artwork from Robert Gill (with colours from José Villarrubia) is probably among the best I’ve seen from him, really bringing some very strong work here with backgrounds, vehicles, and character designs that are particularly impressive.

| Published by Valiant

Cold Spots #1 is the start to another horror series from Cullen Bunn, this time accompanied by Mark Torres with the artwork, and as per many of Bunn’s previous tales, this is a great start. There’s a genuinely creepy atmosphere from Torres’ art and the plot of a missing daughter and her child, amidst the spooky maybe-ghosts, is a good one.

| Published by Image

Daredevil #607 gets into how there can possibly be a Mike Murdock running around New York and it’s an interesting and possibly hazardous diversion. Gorgeous art from Phil Noto.

| Published by Marvel

Die!Die!Die! #2 is more entertaining over-the-top humorous action that feels like it’s channelling Garth Ennis. Great art from Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #4 is probably the most succinct in sticking to its plot without real deviation of all of these minis. Basically sticking to the thread of these X-women tackling the Femme Fatales. It’s been a relatively decent story from Jim Zub, Thony Silas, and Felipe Sobreiro, even if the art’s been a little uneven. There’s a really nice sequence of Psylocke finding herself again in this issue, though, from Leonard Kirk and Andrew Crossley that has interesting implications going forward.

| Published by Marvel

Jughead: The Hunger #8 is a great jumping-on point for new readers, offering a bit of a history lesson and summary reinterpretation of the events of the overarching plot of the series to date. Great work from Frank Tieri, Pat & Tim Kennedy, Joe Eisma, Bob Smith, Ryan Jampole, Matt Herms, Andre Szymanowicz, and Jack Morelli.

| Published by Archie Comics / Archie’s Madhouse Presents

The Life of Captain Marvel #2 continues what is shaping up to be possibly one of the defining and quintessential Carol Danvers stories. I love what Margaret Stohl is doing in bringing out the backstory and interpersonal dynamics of Carol’s family. The art from Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, and Marcio Menyz in the present day and Marguerite Sauvage’s flashbacks is wonderful.

| Published by Marvel

Mr. & Mrs. X #2 continues this fun ride, tossing in Deadpool and more of the lesser used intergalactic X-characters. The dialogue from Kelly Thompson is hilarious and the art from Oscar Bazaldua and Frank D’Armata is great.

| Published by Marvel

Old Man Logan #46 begins another arc tying up loose ends before the endgame of Dead Man Logan kicks off. Wrapping reconnecting with Alpha Flight around a horror story evoking shades of The Thing and Slither results in a wonderful story perfectly fitting Damian Couciero’s artwork.

| Published by Marvel

The Punisher #1 is both a continuation of Matthew Rosenberg’s stories and ideas from the last volume of the series and a kind of back-to-basics approach to Frank Castle. Basically, he’s lost the War Machine suit, but he’s still taking on the world-spanning super-villains. It’s pretty epic and this is great jumping-on point. The dark humour is perfect, reminding me of Garth Ennis’ work with Castle, and seriously this is probably the best art that Szymon Kudranski has ever done. Along with Antonio Fabela’s colours, it’s like he was born to draw The Punisher.

| Published by Marvel

Royal City #14 is an introspective end of saying farewell to the past and accepting change to move forward. This has been an interesting series from Jeff Lemire, focusing on his most often used theme of family, and it’s been a good exploration of their different dynamics.

| Published by Image

The Sentry #3 is pretty dark, telling the flipside of the first two issues from Billy Turner’s perspective as he goes about stealing Sentry’s identity. This is almost at Kid Miracleman levels of demented. Jeff Lemire is playing with some interesting ideas here, beautifully brought to life by Kim Jacinto, Joshua Cassara, and Rain Beredo.

| Published by Marvel

Shadowman #6 has some truly beautiful artwork from Renato Guedes, as this arc of Jack falling through time visiting the different holders of the shadow loa takes an interesting turn in ancient history.

| Published by Valiant

Shanghai Red #3 is probably the best issue to date, as Molly reunites with Katie, recriminations are hashed out, and we get a bit of a tour of Portland. Christopher Sebela, Joshua Hixson, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou have tapped into something unique here, and this tale of revenge and some of the lesser told side of American history is incredibly compelling.

| Published by Image

TMNT #85 brings Leatherhead back into the fold, with very interesting and potentially dangerous ramifications following the war between the Utroms and Triceratons. Brahm Revel’s clothes-peg take on the Turtles is an interesting visual choice.

| Published by IDW

The Thrilling Adventure Hour #2 I find better than the first issue. The humour hits home a bit more for me and the leads of Sadie and Frank don’t seem nearly as insufferable as the first issue. The art, though, from MJ Erickson and Brittany Peer is just as good as the first. Entertaining stuff.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Venom #5 is another great issue. The mythology-building in this series is just incredible, growing Venom and his world into so much more. Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles are creating magic.

| Published by Marvel

West Coast Avengers #1 is a great debut, filled with action and humour, as this highly dysfunctional team comes together. It’s nice to see Kelly Thompson doing more Hawkeye and Hawkguy, and the collection of characters coming together to make up the team are bizarre and fitting, carrying on a few of the themes and plot developments of the previous Hawkeye and America series. Though you needn’t have read any of that before you pick this up. Making it nigh unmissable is the gorgeous art from Stefano Caselli and Triona Farrell. This is fun.

| Published by Marvel

Witchblade #7 returns for its second arc, continuing the extremely high level of quality that Caitlin Kittredge, Roberta Ingranata, Bryan Valenza, and Troy Peteri set for themselves.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

X-Men Red #7 advances us a bit further as the X-Men attempt to uncover evidence of Cassandra Nova’s influence on the world and thwart her attack on Atlantis. Tom Taylor has definitely been taking a slow approach to unfurling this story, but it has allowed for the beautiful art from originally Mahmud Asrar and now Carmen Carnero & Rain Beredo time to breathe.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Amazing Spider-Man #4, Avengers: Wakanda Forever #1, Barbarella #9, Bedtime Games #3, Betty & Veronica: Vixens #9, Curse Words Summer Swimsuit Special #1, Days of Hate #7, DuckTales #11, Gasolina #11, Hack/Slash: Resurrection #10, Hit-Girl #7, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation #6, Lumberjanes #53, Mammon, Mickey Spillane’s Mike #3, Night’s Dominion - Season Three #2, Old Man Hawkeye #8, Quantum & Woody! #9, Red Sonja/Tarzan #4, Redneck #14, Stairway - Volume 1, Star Wars: Darth Vader #20, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #23, Sullivan’s Sluggers, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road #4, Wasted Space #4

Recommended Collections: Avengers: Back to Basics, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Cloak & Dagger: Predator & Pray, Deadly Class - Volume 7: Love Like Blood, Giant Days - Volume 8, Jimmy’s Bastards - Volume 2, Li’l Donnie - Volume 1: Executive Privilege, Lockjaw: Who’s a Good Boy, Postal - Volume 7, Sex Criminals - Volume 5: Five-fingered Discount

d. emerson eddy too wonders where all the cowboys have gone. Is it a nefarious plot from some shadowy organization? Or are they all just at the Calgary Stampede?

#This Week in Comics