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#elli the chimp
lesbian-toddhoward · 1 year
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happy halloween
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ape-apocalypse · 2 months
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Road To The Kingdom - Prelude and Contagion Comics
This post will focus on two short comics that were published around the first reboot film, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
The first is a prelude comic with a story that the writers (Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) and director (Rupert Wyatt) always had in their minds for the film but had to be cut for time (they mention this in the DVD commentary and in interviews). Knowing how passionate they were about this piece of backstory for Caesar's origin, I'm very glad it was given life in this comic. It expands on the capture of Caesar's mother and her time in the GEN-SYS labs, scenes that are featured briefly in the opening of the film. 
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Director Wyatt and the writers have all said they thought it was important to show this backstory of Caesar's parents to demonstrate that, even prior to the drug that enhanced him as an unborn baby, his parents were above average apes. The comic shows a group of poachers following a troop of chimps, intent on capturing them to sell to laboratories for testing. Alpha, Caesar's father, is more intelligent than a regular chimpanzee, demonstrated in how he outsmarts the humans to keep his apes safe. He even lures them into a trap in order to kill several of them. 
Likewise Caesar's mother, Bright Eyes... who is named Bright Eyes in the comic for her rare blue eyes which doesn't make sense since she was named that in the lab for the changed eyes Will's drug gives her and also she doesn't even have blue eyes in the opening scene of the movie but that's just bad continuity, I guess... Anyway, Bright Eyes is shown to be exceedingly compassionate to her troop, ensuring no one gets left behind as they flee the poachers and fiercely defending Alpha. Though it is very brief, it is nice to see the united front of Alpha and Bright Eyes that make up Caesar. Human drugs may have given him true intelligence, but Caesar's determination, loyalty, and compassion all came from his parents.
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The rest of the comic arc shows Bright Eyes' time in the lab prior to giving birth. We see her intelligence grow to the point that she is able to escape from the lab on her own and return when she realizes she's far from her jungle home. There's a story of another lab ape named Burke who gets smart but decides to hide it, so he's retired to a sanctuary as a failed experiment and starts to plan his own escape. It's interesting to see the progression of the drug and its effect on the apes but the best part is getting to know Bright Eyes a bit better than her brief time in the film. 
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Shifting to Contagion, it is even shorter than the prelude comic as it was a one-shot set between Rise and Dawn. The focus of the comic is Ellie, the human in Dawn who is the love interest of Malcolm and the nurse who heals Cornelia. Her backstory is briefly mentioned in the movie but it is fleshed out here. We're shown the death of her daughter, Sarah, during the Simian Flu outbreak and her time with the CDC trying to find a vaccine. She ends up escaping the destruction of her lab with the help of a test chimp and the two go their separate ways (which makes me think an interesting story in this universe would be a human and an intelligent ape who actually successfully survive together but I guess that's what fanfics are for). Though very fast paced, that is the nature of a short one-shot comic. It does probably set the feeling of losing your daughter as the world falls apart around you, all happening in a very quick blur. Her time spent with the test apes and her rescue by the chimp Betty show her gentle nature that will have her seeking peace with Caesar's apes in the coming film. 
Though these comics are short compared to the longer arcs that will be featured later, I like these stories for their background on two female characters, Bright Eyes and Ellie. While the original films had Zira as a main lead character, the female characters in the reboot series definitely suffer from being primarily love interests to the lead characters and not having much to do in the films. So it is nice to let Ellie and Bright Eyes have comic book expansions of their characters. Both of these stories have been hard to find in the past, as the prelude was online promotion for Rise that seems to be gone from the Net and Contagion was a San Diego Comic Con 2014 exclusive. However, they can now be found in the Planet of the Apes comic omnibus entitled After The Fall.
Intro / Previous / Next
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finexbright · 1 year
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those two options are bad and valid but why that choice when steal my girl is available as the clear worst song aha
NO. absolutely not i will not stand any slander against my gem of a girl. "she been my queen since we were 16, we want the same things we dream the same dreams" and don't even get me started on the iconic video because it gave us very very cute adorable fond worthy content like louis and ellie the chimp
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king-leos-world · 4 months
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Leo's Friends and Enemies
Friends:
Ellie (Co leader or the Elephant herd) 
Bahari (Leo’s sidekick; African Wild Dog or Painted Dog) 
Hercules (Liger; a historian) 
Mia (maid in the Lion Palace; Lioness) 
Josè (leader of the High Jungle; Jaguar) 
Cornelius (Elephant herd leader) 
Bog (Nile Crocodile float leader and leader of the River and Oval Lake)
Athena (Spotted Hyena clan leader)
Naltar (Snow Leopard; Nassir’s Assistant) 
Willie (Blue Whale pod leader)
Thrash (King of the South Ocean; Great white Shark)
Floyd (Flamingo flock leader)
Moonlight (Fruit Bat Colony)
Weston (Wildebeest herd leader)
Azure (Blue and Gold macaw flock leader)
Edmund (Elk herd and Forest leader)
Ben (Honey Badger; in charge in the Crystal Caves)
Rain (Little Bee Eater colony leader) 
Hugo (Hippo pod leader) 
Barb (Wood Pigeon flock leader)
Koko (Gorilla leader)
Ginger (Golden Lion Tamarin leader) 
Ruby (Bongo leader) 
Kipper (Capybara leader)
Copper (Caracal)
Shelby (Giant Snail)
Blue (Rainforest Tarantula)
Betsy (Jumping Spider)
Gus (Chinchilla) 
____________________
Enemies:
Montgomery and his gang (Grizzly Bear and four Black Bears)
Chewy (Alligator Float leader)
Diesel (Orca; King of the North Ocean)
Cedric (Chimp leader) 
Willis (Desert Bighorn leader)
Giggles (Rogue Hyena) 
Angus (Water Buffalo leader) 
Baron (Rogue Cape Buffalo) 
Spike (Rogue Rhino) 
Goth (Black Mamba)
Icicle (Rogue Gray Wolf from the Snowy Mountains)
Poppy (Rat colony leader)
Scavenger (Coyote) 
Jet (Black Panther)
Midori (Green Anaconda) 
Tessa (Lynx) 
Swift (Cheetah) 
Quill (Crested Porcupine) 
Dexter (Red Fox)
Laza (Golden Eagle)
________________________
Enjoy!
These guys belong to me
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rennered4real · 3 years
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Jeremy Renner via Instagram:
„Everyone LOVES a good tickle sesh! #primate #playtime #allthetime #whatatreatforme #windrivermovie“
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texasthrillbilly · 4 years
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The girl who has it all.
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werewuff69 · 4 years
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im so glad the circus playhouse is in good hands and is gonna be restored :) they make me so happy
SOURCE: cavitysam on instagram
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mortemcatabasis · 4 years
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Just came the realization that the reason ppl call my art lively and aggressive is bc the most common shape i use is triangles n its shape language is exactly that
No common ape is immune to the core principles of stylization
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dyketectivecomics · 3 years
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I know I’m not touching on the Vamps vs Monster Hunters as much right now but it really comes down to being like this:
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sfppn · 3 years
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Vast Wasteland from the Vault 093 - TV Pets
Before Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even the Internet, there was Public Access Cable. Return with us now to Columbus, Ohio in the 1990s for the journal of pop culture.
What is it, girl? The team? Trapped? At Deadrock Canyon?
Thanks to TVsStevePatrick for the updated theme!
youtube
VWFTV 093
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in-tua-deep · 5 years
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Consider: they go back to rescue Grace and bring her to Ellie like she’s a robot but Diego insists she has feelings so can she stay? And Ellie the lumberjack lesbian just sorta stammers ‘uh yeah sure ok whatever’ because wow for a robot nanny she’s really cute?? And they fall in love
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y’all are very insistent on this lmao for anyone new this is regarding the broken five au where Reginald tries to control Five by threatening Vanya’s life so the kids run away! for all of it check out the ellie fortuin tag ;3c
I should make a master list of my aus at some point smh
ANYWAY so after Reggie arrives and Ellie kicks him the entire fuck out the kids reveal that they wish they could also rescue their mother, which is the first Ellie is hearing about this (she assumed the reason they looked sad when she accidentally brought up mothers is because theirs gave the up and sold them to Reginald Fucking Hargreeves - she did her research when she figured out who they were okay)
but in all she looked up she didn’t find anything about Reginald Hargreeves being married or anything so ???
and there’s another thing she’s been meaning to do for a while which she kind of needs to go to the house/Reginald to do and whatever so, you know. She tells the kids she’s going out, puts on her nicest plaid shirt (because actually fuck getting dressed up to see this dude she’s going to wear her muddiest boots) and gives them all kisses and reminders to be good and then sets out
(she puts Marmalade in charge because as much as she complains about the cat she doesn’t trust Clyde not to be a pushover and at least Marm is street smart)
so there she is hammering on the door to the Umbrella Academy with a backpack pull of papers on her back, a lengthy consultation with a lawyer to remember, and a mission in her mind and the door opens and there is a chimpanzee in a suit looking at her and Ellie is honestly just kind of like “Ah you know now it makes some sense why the kids are weird about bringing up monkeys” and just embraces that her life is weird as she follows the chimp (who talks and has introduced himself as Pogo what the fuck) into the house and is told to wait while he informs Master Reginald of her arrival
and while she’s waiting impatiently and kicking off bit of dried mud on her boots to kick under the fancy furniture to be spiteful, she hears humming and who comes into view but an absolute angel?? Ellie would genuinely swear her heart skipped a beat
“Oh!” The Angel says, spotting her, looking mildly surprised, “A guest! Has Pogo already seen to you, dear?”
“Uh.” Ellie says, very intelligently as her brain short-circuits
“I’m Grace.” The Angel smiles warmly and Ellie genuinely wants the floor to open up and swallow her because she cannot form a single coherent sentence and also didn’t the kids say Grace was their mothers name this is not the random old lady she was expecting, “Are you here to see Mr. Hargreeves?”
Thankfully Ellie doesn’t have to embarrass herself any further by attempting to produce something approaching speech because Pogo is back and gesturing for Ellie to follow him.
“It was lovely meeting you.” Grace tells her, before turning back to cleaning or whatever she was doing and Ellie is helpless except to follow after Pogo to do what she actually came here to do.
So that’s what has Ellie standing in front of Reginald Hargreeves and slamming a whole bunch of papers on his desk and saying “Independent adoption” to him as though he, who literally bought seven children, did not know what adoption was.
And then there is a long an complicated argument that busts out a lot of legal terms and more than a few vague threats on both sides. Because Ellie does not want this man to have any legal power over her kids and apparently he is still under the delusion that the kids will ever go back to live and train under him or whatever which HA is not happening
“They need to stop the apocalypse.” Reginald Hargreeves insists to her face.
“Those kids,” Ellie says, voice low and dangerous, “Are powerful beyond measure, and before I got them they didn’t care about the world one lick. Because they’d never seen it. Because what had the world ever done for them? The only thing they knew about humanity was you, Reginald Hargreeves. And you taught them that people were cruel and ruthless and only wanted to use them. You taught them that people without powers were useless and worthless and ordinary.”
She opens her arms wide, “And you think that those kids would save the world? You think they would lift a finger to help humanity when all they knew was that it was evil? The way you were raising them, I’d be more shocked if it wasn’t them who caused the apocalypse for goodness sake.”
Reginald sits before her, pale in his fury, but she doesn’t drop it there.
“Luther likes building with his hands, and he’s really good at it. His favorite food is baby carrots because he likes the crunch and also likes sneaking them to Clyde. He likes helping people carry things to their cars and any praise makes him light up like a Christmas tree, bless him. And when I got him? He didn’t know how to help people, he only knew how to stop ‘bad guys’ and had no idea how to even talk to people.”
Reginald doesn’t say anything. Ellie presses on.
“Diego is an angry kid, yeah, but he had a heart of fucking gold. He’s the first one to volunteer to help with chores or dinner or anything. He’s protective as anything when it comes to his siblings. He was the one who brought home the cranky old tomcat that no one could get near just because he thought that he was lonely and needed a home. And when I got him? He would barely even talk to me because he thought he’d get in trouble for struggling with his words. Thought that his ideas were worth less somehow just because he took longer to get them out. And that’s what you taught him.”
Ellie is really still furious about that. Diego’s stuttering usually only surfaced when he was nervous or stressed now, which wasn’t as often as it used to be, but the fact that he told her once with anger and heartbreak on her face that he was just dumb broke her heart.
“Allison made friends quicker than anyone. She loves to talk to people. She was so excited to go to her friend’s birthday party and when I asked her why she said she’d never been allowed to have friends, before. Never allowed to have friends. Her and Klaus pick out some of the wildest clothes because they’d never been allowed to express themselves before. She’s so bright, and wonderful, and she loves going to the movies more than anything.”
“You can stop, now.” Reginald tells her.
“No I can’t.” Ellie surges up with a roar, clearly taking Reginald aback. “No, I can’t, because those kids are just that - kids. They didn’t know how to save the world because they didn’t even know what the world was! They weren’t allowed friends, they weren’t allowed outside, they weren’t allowed to be kids - do you know anything about them? Do you know that Klaus is brilliant at knitting, and that Vanya can be bribed into just about anything with butterscotch cookies? Do you know that Ben can’t get enough of soap operas, and that Luther would rather go a science museum over a gym any day of the week?”
Ellie shakes her head slowly. “Do you know that they’re all afraid of you? Does it make you feel big to have a bunch of children absolutely convinced that you would kill one of them to keep them in line?”
Reginald looks very tired. Ellie doesn’t feel very sorry for him though because she kind of wishes he was dead, so. “What do you want, Miss Fortuin?”
“Custody of the kids.” Ellie shoots back without hesitation. “I have the forms with me. I have arrangements made for a home inspection by the relevant people to make it official. I have the numbers of people to call to go through with it. They’re already living with me anyway, this would just make it official.”
“Why?” Reginald asks her, which is a fair question she supposes. She already has the kids and threatened Reginald into staying away from them, after all.
“It’s their birthday soon.” She tells him, after a long pause. “We finished the extension so they have their own rooms, even if they all end up camped in one. But I want to give them certainty. I want them to be absolutely sure that you can’t waltz right in and destroy everything that they’ve worked for. I want them to be less afraid.”
Reginald pulls the papers to him and starts scanning them, making Pogo (who had been standing silently by the door the entire time) start in alarm. “Sir? What about the apocalypse?”
And that just makes Ellie angry. She whirls around, jabbing a finger at the alarmed looking butler. “Why don’t you do something about the apocalypse, huh? Why don’t you fix the world? Those kids might have powers, but they are children. Fuck you for putting the weight of the world on their shoulders. Luther can pick up something really heavy? There’s an entire fucking sport that revolves around that, find one of those guys. Diego can curve knives? You built them a fucking robot mother I’m pretty sure it’s within your capabilities to makes some kind of targeting weapon. Heat seeking missiles exist, it’s not that much a stretch. Stop pinning all your hopes on them and start getting off your ass and do something yourselves you sanctimonious pricks.”
Pogo looks shocked. Reginald looks taken aback.
“They’re just little kids.” Ellie tells them, suddenly tired herself. “They’re just little kids. They aren’t soldiers in whatever war you’ve cooked up in your head. They deserve a chance to be happy.”
Reginald looks down at the papers, not managing to look her in the eye. “And if there is someone bringing about the end of the world? Will the children fight, then?”
“Maybe.” Ellie shoots back, no hesitation. “But before I let them have at it’s going to be me going in with my fucking wood axe first. Or at the very least I’ll be there right alongside them helping out. My axe will kill ‘em dead just as much as Diego’s knives or Vanya’s sound waves or Ben’s tentacles.”
Reginald sighs and signs the papers with a flourish. “Will there be anything else, Miss Fortuin?” He says it almost sarcastically, as thought he can’t imagine her needing anything else.
Ellie’s honestly surprised that it actually happened. She thought she’d leave her empty handed and furious but at least knowing she tried. She swipes the papers up into her hands, unwilling to give Reginald to chance to back out.
And then she decides to press her luck. “Actually, yeah. The kids want their mother back. I understand she’s a robot, so we’ll need the appropriate charging materials.”
Reginald raises an eyebrow at her.
“I’ll be back in a week to pick everything up. At the very least I’ll install charging stuff at my house so she can come and visit.” She feels a little bad for just demanding custody of the kids mother as if she’s just an object. Diego insists she’s a whole person who is just under the control of their dad, and unfortunate and hopefully fixable issue.
“It’s a robot.” Reginald says, almost dumbly. 
“She’s their mother.” Ellie corrects Reginald viciously, “And she did a damn sight better at parenting than you ever did, even though it must have been an uphill battle the entire time. I’ll be back in a week. Good day to you, sir.”
And with that she turns on her heel and strides out of the room, wondering when the fuck she turned into an angry character in some regency show. Good day to you, sir? Maybe it was the house. Or that ridiculous fucking monocle, god.
She almost runs right into Grace, who blinks at her and smiles beautifully.
“I’ll show you out.” Grace tells her, and Ellie doesn’t have anything to say to that. They get to the door, and Grace opens it, and - 
“Do you uh, do you want to come with us? In a week?” Ellie asks, before she gets all the way through, turning to Grace. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask I just - ”
“Thank you,” Grace cuts her off, eyes sparkling and Ellie knows she’s more than just a robot. “Thank you for taking care of my children. For doing what I could not. I will see you in a week.”
The door closes and Ellie is left on the other side with a whole bunch of papers in her arms and hope in her chest and the need to get in contact with more than one person to verify all of this and make this adoption go through.
There was still more to do - like changing the kids legal names (which were still numbers) and figuring out where the charging port and stuff would go in the house (would Grace want her own house?? Ellie was 100% sure they absolutely could not finish an entire small cabin in a week even between the eight of them but Ellie’s cabin wasn’t exactly as spacious as the mansion Grace would surely be used to - Ellie liked to refer to it as cosy)
(a week later, Ellie borrows a friend’s pickup and grabs all the stuff from the Hargreeves mansion she needs. Grace rides shotgun smiling the whole way there.)
(Ellie doesn’t mention that the ‘luggage’ Grace brought with her looks suspiciously like a wrapped up painting that may or may not have been stolen straight off of Reginald Hargreeves’ walls)
(Ellie might just be a little bit in love)
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fantomcomics · 5 years
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What’s Out This Week? 10/9
Are you having a bone-chilling, hair-raising October, Fantomites? If not, here are some #1s coming out this Wednesday that might help!
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The Batman’s Grave #1 (of 12) - Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch, Kevin Nowland
The World's Greatest Detective must try to inhabit the mind of a murder victim to solve a case-without filling the empty grave next to those of his parents. Can Batman imagine the life of a corpse with a half-eaten face without dying himself?
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel: Hellmouth #1 (of 5) - Jordie Bellaire, Jeremy Lambert, Eleonora Carlini, Jenny Frison
Buffy Summers, the Slayer, has one job... keep the forces of hell from coming to Earth through, uh, Hellmouth. Here's the bad news.she might have failed. The Mistress Drusilla and her ally, Spike, have found a weapon to open the Hellmouth and unleash unspeakable evil across the town and the world. With time running out, Buffy must team up with a new ally that she doesn’t fully trust.the vampire vigilante known as Angel! Can these two find a way to work together before the Hellmouth opens - or these two decide they might be each other's greatest enemy?
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Doctor Doom #1 -  Christopher Cantwell, Salvador Larroca, Aco
Victor Von Doom - scientist, sorcerer, disfigured face, twisted soul - has been spending much of his time warning against a trillion-dollar global effort to create the first "artificial" black hole. Wrestling with visions of an entirely different life...a better future...DOCTOR DOOM finds himself at a crossroads. (what is he questioning?) A catastrophic act of terrorism kills thousands, and the prime suspect is... DOOM? Victor will have to push his unexplained thoughts aside and focus on remaining alive as the title of "Most Wanted Man" is thrust upon him... Left with no homeland, no armies, no allies, indeed, nothing at all, will the reign of Doctor Doom come to an abrupt halt? (Rated T)
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RWBY #1 (of 7) - Marguerite Bennett, Mirka Andolfo, Sarah Stone
In a world rife with monsters known as Grimm, the prestigious Beacon Academy trains the next generation of hunters and huntresses. Tying in with the hit Rooster Teeth web series RWBY, follow the adventures of team RWBY, comprising bruiser Yang Xiao Long, elegant Weiss Schnee, stealthy Blake Belladonna and courageous leader Ruby Rose, as they protect the world from all manner of Grimm!
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Joker: Year of the Villain #1 - John Carpenter, Anthony Burch, Philip Tan, Marc Deering
In the Year of the Villain, what's a Clown Prince of Crime to do when the world has started to accept doing bad as the only way to live? Out-bad everyone else, of course! The Joker is on a mission to get his mojo back and prove to the world that there is no greater villainy than the kind that leaves you laughing.
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Ginseng Roots #1 - Craig Thompson
From ages 10 to 20, Craig Thompson (the author of Blankets) and his little brother Phil, toiled in Wisconsin farms. Weeding and harvesting ginseng-a medicinal herb that fetched huge profits in China-funded Craig's youthful obsession with comic books. Now, for the first time in his career, Thompson is working in serial form, in a bimonthly comic book series. Part memoir, part travelogue, part essay, all comic book, Ginseng Roots explores class divide, agriculture, holistic healing, the 300 year long trade relationship between China and North America, childhood labor, and the bond between two brothers.
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Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker #1 - Sacks, Ethan, Luke Ross, Marco Checchetto
Hounded by the FIRST ORDER across the galaxy, the RESISTANCE is in dire need of ships, weapons and recruits to make a final stand against KYLO REN'S forces. Desperation drives a delegation led by GENERAL LEIA ORGANA and REY to entreat the Rebel veteran's one-time allies, THE MON CALAMARI, to join the fight - but decades after Imperial occupation enslaved their planet, there are those willing to stop at nothing to prevent another war from bloodying the waters of Mon Cala. A system away, POE DAMERON and FINN have their own mission: to hunt down a weapons cache on the remote moon of Avedot, unaware that they are being hunted by the most notorious criminal gang in the galaxy. (Rated T)
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Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #1 (of 9) - Kami Garcia, Mico Suayan, Mike Mayhew, Francesco Mattina
In Gotham City, where heinous acts of violence are a daily occurrence, the GCPD relies on Harley Quinn, a young forensic psychiatrist and profiler, to consult on their toughest cases. But Harley is haunted by one unsolved case-the night she discovered her roommate's body marked with the signature of a notorious serial killer known as The Joker. Five years later, the case remains unsolved and a new series of horrific murders occur throughout the city. As the murders escalate, Harley's obsession with finding the depraved psychopath responsible leads her down a dangerous path. When the past and the present finally collide, Harley has to decide how far she is willing to go-and how many lines she is willing to cross-to solve these cases once and for all.
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Shoplifters Will Be Liquidated #1 - Patrick Kindlon, Stefano Simeone
The largest retailer in the world requires the best-trained loss prevention staff, and Security Officer Nussbaum defends the company interests at any cost. Life, human rights, rational thought are all secondary concerns. But his world is upended when he finds a society living under the retail outlet - a culture that challenges his no-tions about consumerism and sense of self. Is he ready for the message? Imagine Judge Dredd working for Amazon, and you've got a hint of what you're in for.
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Secrets of Sinister House #1 - Paul Dini & Various, Rafael Albuquerque & Various, John Romita, Bill Sienkiewicz
Witness what hides within the Sinister House-the DCU's most horrific secrets and mysteries! Travel alongside Harley Quinn, John Constantine, Detective Chimp, Zatanna, the Atom and others as they face this macabre devastation firsthand! And in the bowels of this dark mansion...we return to the world of the legendary Red Rain to meet once again with the dreaded vampire Batman. Don't miss this year's DC Halloween special-because if you do, it'll haunt you!
Catch these titles and more at Fantom this Wednesday, October 9!
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ty-talks-comics · 5 years
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Best of DC: Week of March 27th, 2019
Best of this Week: Detective Comics #1000 - Various Writers and Artists
Possibly more controversial than I'm thinking it'll be, I'm glad Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo did the job of reintroducing Slam Bradley into the DC Universe. Slam Bradley, of course the way I choose to remember him, was one of DC's first characters and the precursor design to modern day Superman. He was a 1930s dick (detective in this case) who made his name in infamy with racist depictions of Chinese people being swung by their braids with toothy grins. He's likely the reason DC won't reprint some of the early Detective Comics works in a compendium.
This is without a doubt, a great celebration for one of the greatest comic book characters of all time, if not THE greatest. The difficulty in reviewing something like this, much like Action Comics #1000 (if I reviewed that one, I don't remember) is that so many stories have their ups and downs, hits or misses and there's so much ground. But some of these were so good that this book is getting an entry all on it's own this week.
He's been made better in recent years with a badass run as a side character in Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke's Catwoman (2001) as a cool former police officer with a son by the name of Slam Jr. on the force. He was probably some of the best parts of his short time there and was very compelling in interactions with Selina.
Kevin Smith and Jim Lee have arguably done some of the best and WORST Batman projects ever, but through the good and the bad, both have immense talent and their tale “Manufacture for Use” added a beautiful layer to the significance of the metal plate that his emblem is made out of.
The book is simple enough, a montage of Batman fighting his greatest villains shows in the background while his alter ego, Matches Malone, has a conversation with a merchant peddling in the various pieces of gear left by villains. He has Harley hammers, crazy quilts and even freeze guns, but there's only one weapon Malone is interested in; The Gun belonging to Joe Chill. The weapon that killed The Wayne Family.
He and others had been leaving Batman clues since his first days as a hero to have him join a guild of detectives, solving unsolvable or very difficult cases and knowing that Slam is one of the detectives along with Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, The Question, Detective Chimp, Elongated Man and his wife, Sue Dibny is relieving and fantastic.
I'm glad DC hasn't shied away from him given his past history. Even his inclusion in Superman of China based on his former character, warts and all, seemed like DC was kinda ashamed of it, but here he is, as awesome as he was later in life!
Upon seeing it, Alfred questions why Bruce would keep it as a trophy, nothing the ridiculousness of The Penny and the Dinosaur, he sees the gun as strange or even perverse. Batman, however, wishes to never see it cause anyone pain again, melting and forming it into an oval adorned with the symbol of a Bat.
Batman has dedicated his life to stopping crime in Gotham at all costs, but not everyone see his methods as being right or just. Doctor Leslie Thompkins has been looking over Bruce since his parent’s murder and oped that he would take his pain and do something productive with it, actually fix Gotham, but instead she sees how vengeance has consumed him, turning him into something of a violent monster himself and she’s not wrong. They meet each other on the anniversary of his parent’s murder in Crime Alley and are beset upon by a group of teenagers whom Batman viciously slaps the hell out of. Dr. Thompkins stops him out of fear and Batman looks like the real villain here.
If that isn't chilling...
Brian Michael Bendis is a GREAT Batman writer. Checking out his 15 pages in the Batman Walmart 100 Page Giants, much like Daredevil, Batman is a character that is PERFECT for him. “I Know” drawn by frequent Bendis collaborator, Alex Maleev, is amazing. Penguin started becoming disillusioned with the meetings put together by villains like The Joker on how to finally get rid of The Batman, Penguin begins to muse about who had the money to fund Batman. I believe he proposed the idea to the others, but they all shot him down, citing times Batman showed up when Bruce was a hostage or how he “blubbered like a baby.”
Penguin didn’t let it go, however, and prepared Suicide Bomb Penguins to attack Wayne Manor while Bruce was hosting a ton of high profile Gothamites. It would have been the end of Bruce Wayne.
Warren Ellis writes some very character driven stories, but when he has to get technical, he is a master as good as any. In “The Batman’s Design” he goes over Batman’s methodology when taking on criminals, treating things like a chess game that he’s already won. He leads the criminals to a trap and plays them like a fiddle, setting off an explosion that knock out or send some flying, determining a sniper’s location and just being so terrifying that the leader just hands him a bomb switch before his ass gets destroyed.
Becky Cloonan does a great job of alternating between cool and warm tones for when Batman is in the shadows vs contending with explosions he’s setting off. Batman looks slim, but imposing regardless. This is definitely some of her best art so far!
Now… if you ask any of my friends from when I was in The Navy, they’ll tell you about how I waited in line for Batman: The Arkham Knight. I was excited. I was elated. The conclusion to an amazing trilogy of games that shaped a newfound love for the character for me! And it bloody sucked. I HATE Arkham Knight with a passion. If it’s not The Batmobile, it’s the Joker, if not the Joker, it’s the Knight himself, if not him, then Scarecrow as the shitty final villain.
I really loved the noir tone that was set by Elizabeth Breitweiser’s colors over Steve Epting’s art. Things are very dark and cool. Batman is shrouded in shadow and Doctor Thompkins acts as a small light by comparison. There is great contrast when action happens with warm tones as Batman slaps the teens and Batman standing in the shadows as Leslie and the kids are under the one light is powerful.
Suffice to say, I was not pleased when it was said that The Arkham Knight would finally be appearing in comics different than his video game counterpart, but… I dunno, I kinda like him here.
His characterization seems to be that of someone who has lived in Gotham and has seen Batman’s methods of treating the poor citizens, the weak and the sick. He sees Batman as a cancer, a darkness that needs to be exterminated for Gotham to truly thrive. The best thing, there’s precedent for this kind of character.
One of the first few arcs for Detective Comics involved a cool set of villains known as The Victim Syndicate, people who have been hurt or grievously injured in Batman’s relentless pursuit of crime. These guys put Batman’s team through the ringer, almost turning Stephanie Brown against him completely as Tim Drake had been presumed dead at the time. Another casualty of war. If I remember right, The First Victim noted that there was someone or something coming for Batman soon and if that’s the Arkham KNight, then I am excited.
The Victim Syndicate was one of James Tynion IV’s best ideas during his run and I really hope whoever the creative team is for Detective Comics thus forth lives up to the quality. Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke are both amazing, so I have high hopes if its them.
But Penguin had an epiphany. Ending Bruce Wayne would not end Batman. Batman would become focused. Driven. Possibly to the point of killing. Bruce Wayne is the only thing keeping these villains alive, so Penguin relents and never reveals what he believes he knows, until years later when Bruce is old and mute… but who says that Bruce has lost a step? He zaps Penguin who is taken away as Bruce tells him that he knew, pretty much calling him a “coward ass bitch” as he’s taken away.
Overall, while there were few misses, this collection of stories had great ideas, great characterization, heart and was just fantastic. Looking forward to another 80 years!
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This one was just cute. The Batfamily interacts with each other and take a FANTASTIC family photo drawn by Tony S. Daniel. Starring, Batman, Alfred, Nightwing, Batgirl, “Robin” Damian Wayne, Red Hood, Batwoman, Catwoman, “(Red) Robin” Tim Drake, Spoiler, The Signal, Cassandra Cain Ace the Bathound and Huntress. It’s a well put together double splash page and everyone, even Bruce seems happy.
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hellyeahheroes · 5 years
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Best Ongoing Team Books of 2018 - In text because I cannot make it in video
Okay, so my mic is broken, I have barely time to make it work with how many ever hours I’m working recently, so screw it. Last part of my promised list is long overdue anyway, so I’ll just drop it as a text. Apologies for this but yeah, sometimes stuff just piles up. I hope you’ll still enjoy my picks and check the 3 parts that made it to the video
Welcome to Best Books of 2018, the long-awaited final part. I’m terribly sorry it took me so, so terribly long but I had been forced to take many over hours at my day job and it just ate in my time. The rules are as before. The book must still be ongoing in 2018, even if only for a single issue. It also must have more than two issues published in two thousand eighteen. However, if a book got relaunched as effectively the same title, they count as one. This time we’re doing team books. So if you can, go check those titles out at your local store.
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Number Ten: Super Sons and its continuation, Adventures of the Super Sons. Work of writers Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason with artwork by Carlo Barberi with issue twelve of the first series draw by Tyler Kirkham. Super Sons continue to be an absolute joy. The greatest asset of this story is that Jon and Damian are written as a pair of actual kids, with behavior we would find too childish with other people but appropriate with them. Which only adds charm to an already book that captures joys of being a kid and going on adventures and that embraces silver age weirdness with all kinds of strange stuff, from a bunch of alien kids idealizing Earth supervillains and modeling themselves after them to an alien versions of Cain and Abel and their House of Secret Mysteries. It is a book that you can just pick up, relax and enjoy, lose yourself in fluffy fun. Its time is limited as Adventures is just a mini but I think if there is one title on this list that is just pure escapism, bar themes touched in an issue where our heroes meet their future selves, it is this one.
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Number Nine: House of Whispers by writer Nalo Hopkins and artist Domonike Stanton. One of my favorite out of the new Sandman Universe books, it tells a story of a spell gone wrong that results in the tied fate of goddess Erzulie from Vodou religion and girl named Latoya. The former ends up trapped in the Dreaming, cut from her worshippers and desperately needing to come back before she starves without worship. The latter loses her soul in the same accident and now is affected by Cotard’s delusion, a mental disorder that makes a living person believe they’re dead and worse, she can spread it like an infection. While absolutely fantastic with the weaved narrative I will say that at the time it might be even too heavy as the parts that deal with people affected by the delusion, especially Latoya and her girlfriend Maggie, often feel so outright depressing I had to put the book down and take a break. It is not a bad thing, not every comic book has to just make you feel entertained, especially not one aiming at evoking different emotions. But I need to recommend this one with a warning it is not for everyone as people who already feel down might only feel worse. Still, if you are looking for a book either heavily using themes from religion by far underexplored by literature and pop culture in a respectful way or for a book that might leave you shaken and made think, appreciate your life even, this is a book for you.
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Number Eight is a tie: Justice League Dark by writer James Tynion the Fourth and artists Alvaro Martinez and Daniel Sampere as well as Justice League Odyssey by writer Joshua Williamson and artists Stjepan Sejic and Philipe Briones. Two of the new Justice League titles have their problems, I’ll admit it. The main villain in Justice League Dark comes off as invincible for the sake of it and the establishment of the Sisterhood of the Sleight hand only to destroy it rubs me the wrong way and Odyssey feels to have missed its impact moment due to delays and artist change. However, both books are still excellent in what they set to do, opening this new age in Justice League books and bringing them back to the flagship role. Be it dark atmosphere of JLD that isn’t mitigated by inclusion of either Detective Chimp or Wonder Woman, in fact it is a stroke of genius to have her confront the darker side of magic, or the outlandish space opera of Odyssey, with super likable cast playing game of cat and mouse with Darkseid himself, the books do bring new to the table and truly make the Justice League currently one of the strongest if not the strongest lines in the big two.
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Number Seven: Rogue & Gambit and its continuation Mr & Mrs. X by writer Kelly Thompson and artist Pere Perez on the former and Oscar Balduza and David Lopez. I’m counting it as one book even if an important part, the wedding, took place in a different title and was fairly controversial. But Kelly Thompson has really shown that she feels the two and their relationship and uses as much of their history as possible to build on and inform said relationship. It is in how natural it comes off as, how strong their bond is but also how unafraid of testing it through their adventures Kelly Thompson is that really makes this book so unique. With the cancellation of X-Men: Red and Exiles and with how Uncanny X-Men and Age of X-Man seem in a contest who can drop more balls, this book is now the best ongoing in the X-Line and you will be doing yourself a disservice if you won’t check it out.
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Number Six: Justice League by writers Scott Snyder and James Tynion the Fourth and artists Jim Cheung, Jorge Jimenez, Doug Mankhe, Mike Janin, Francis Manapul, Fazer Irving and Guillem March. This book decided to bring the Justice League back to its greatness and to my great surprise, it succeeded. Scott Snyder’s over the top imagination is a perfect fit for this title and in just a few issues he proved he is not afraid of breaking established boundaries and showing us that cosmology of DC Universe is much greater and more amazing than we might have thought, that everything we thought we know hides more secrets and there is always a new adventure right behind the corner. It asks important questions that, while not intended to be political, by Snyder’s own admission, I feel are still questions about life, a current state of the world and our expectations and ourselves. Upon seeing how flawed the world is, how flawed other people are, how flawed, in the end, we ourselves are, what is a correct course of action? Deny it and try to grind yourself into the idea of perfection you want to be even if it is impossible? Embrace your worst and care only about yourself? Or accept you have flaws, that you feel pain and trauma and realize you can still be a good person regardless? That is the theme of Justice League that makes me enjoy this book so much.
Also, they have hired Ferdinand the Minotaur to work at their cafeteria, that’s awesome.
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Number Five: The Dreaming by writer Simon Spurrier and artist Bilquis Evely. The Dreaming is in peril. Dream of Endless has left his dominion, there is a hole in it through which strange things come, citizens find themselves in state of unrest and all beloved characters, from Lucien and Matthew to Merv Pumpkinhead and Eve to Cain and Abel are set on a course that will challenge them and will change them in unexpected ways, all while old faces like Glob and Brute come back and new ones like mysterious Dora and merciless Judge Gallows leave their mark on the place. The Dreaming plays with obvious political undertones but on a meta sense, it is another case of what Simon Spurrier is driven to do, to deconstruct the darker corners of comics and try to explore questions of responsibility and morality through it like he did with Legion and X-Force. This new, heavier, darker take on the Dreaming sucked me in instantly and I really hope the ride Spurrier has prepared for us is a long one.
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Number Four: Exiles by writer Saladin Ahmed and artists Javier Rodrigues, Rod Reis and Joe Quinones. Exiles had another short-living comeback and it saddens me to see that it has already been cancelled, though not before qualifying on this list. I love Exiles as a series and a concept and the return with all-new cast and Blink was a welcome one. With adventures that are in equal parts fun and serious and characters with such amazing charm as a cartoon kid Wolverine or Valkyrie. What’s more is that the book had such amazing creative artwork, with Rodriguez especially giving it his all and creating some amazing visuals that truly matched increasingly crazier visions that Ahmed has weaved in front of him through the script. This was a top-notch creative team that I sure hope we’ll see them team-up once again on another project in the future. Meanwhile, while brief it it was still a pleasure to come back to this team of weirdos and outcasts hopping between dimensions, one crazier than the other.
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Number Three: Wild Storm by writer Warren Ellis and artist John Davis Hunt. Now here is a book that benefits from its stated twenty four issues run. Wild Storm is a slow burn. But it is by far one of the most glorious slow burns in the history of comics. Ellis continues to create a gritty narrative that combines aliens, conspiracies, secret agencies, technological inventions and movie-like decompressed storytelling into a chilling, dark story that absolutely dominates with the atmosphere. The vision of Wildstorm Universe Ellis and Hunt created for us is absolutely captivating and the feel of the world at the verge of total war between two agencies that long time ago stopped caring for common folk, while Jacob Marlowe, Jenny Sparks, and John Lynch, each in their own way, race to stop them or deal with problems they unleash, is unlike any other. There is plain and simply no other book like this on the shelves right now and it is very unlikely there will be such a book soon after it ends.
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Number Two: The Terrifics by writer Jeff Lemire and artists Ivan Reis, Evan Doc Sharner, Joe Bennett, Dale Eaglesham. Out of all New Age of Heroes Books this is undeniably the best one. A loving tribute to the original Fantastic Four stories that finds a new quality through use of characters that may fill similar archetypes but are different enough that each brings their own thing to the table, creating new dynamics that liven up known narratives while at the same time the artists manage to get creative, especially the issue that divides each page into a sort of camera following each of the four protagonists one panel per person and uniting them and dividing as they join together or split up, pushing the very boundaries of graphic storytelling as we know it. It is also a book full of warmth and joy and optimism we often do not see in books like that. It is truly a title that has a heart and imagination on its side and it is using them to their full potential.
Honorable Mentions: West Coast Avengers, Champions, Teen Titans
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And our Number One is Runaways by writer Rainbow Rowell and artists Kris Anka and David Lafuente. It couldn’t be anything else. Runaways this year was plain and simply the best book on the shelves. Kris Anka’s beautiful art brings to life Rainbow Rowell amazing heart for these characters as she lets them face new challenges in their lives, creating story if teenagers at the verge of adulthood as they try to wrestle less with supervillains and more with their own fears and insecurities and this feeling of childhood and innocence lost for superhero life they never wanted, all as they try to rebuild and maintain their family. It is a story where greatest victories are not supervillain battles, which they seem to win by a fluke most of the time anyway, but to take a step forward, overcome your fear and doubt and admit to yourself that yes, you are worthy of happiness and you will be happy. In that Runaways is without a doubt the book that speaks to me the most and one I wait for every month. I cannot recommend this book enough.
So here are my final picks. I’m exhausted. I will say that recently all stuff in my life made working on the videos harder, especially now that i’m trying, against any better reason to record myself  and I might not be able to do it as regularly. I might think of reinventing the format and maybe relegate the channel to a different role in relation to my blog, which I think is by now much more popular. I still have learned a lot in that time of doing these videos and I wish to continue, maybe with a more focused vision. Thank you all for being so long with me and putting up with my nosense and rest assured, I shall return.
- Admin
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texasthrillbilly · 3 years
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Cousin Bessie
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nitewrighter · 6 years
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Soundtrack prompt: "Memories Can Weigh You Down", Pixar’s Up
This was supposed to start out as a lighthearted, “Winston launches into space!” fic but I got caught up in how messed up the Horizon Lunar Colony backstory really is and… here we are.
I headcanon that the Horizon Lunar Colony apes had a sort of “Planet of the Apes” deal where all the primates were fluent signers and it was a big deal when one of them transitioned from signing to verbally speaking.
—-
It had been two weeks since the airlock incident. Horizon Lunar Colony didn’t sound the same. There were the hoots of gorillas, chimps, and a plucky capuchin, and maybe the odd hamster squeak coming from the ventilation shaft, but the only words that were heard were mainly automated announcements from the Colony’s AI system. The scientists used to play Mozart and Debussy over the lab speakers to keep morale up, but there was no such music now. Except on the observation deck. One gorilla kept the music playing, but kept it contained to the observation deck’s speakers. It made the earth prettier somehow, he felt. 
Winston was tapping away at a computer on Horizon’s observation deck when the door behind him slid open and a gentle-faced bonobo lumbered in.
“You didn’t show up to Simon’s last two meetings,” Ellie signed.
“So?” Winston signed back.
“I know you’re still mad about how everything happened,” Ellie signed, “But regardless of how it happened, we’re on our own now. We need to work–”
“Simon’s meetings are about Simon, not about us,” Winston signed, “He’s a bully. You’re only following him because you’re afraid of him and Hypatia–”
“I was sick of it too,” Ellie signed. 
Winston stopped working at the computer and looked over his shoulder at her. Direct eye contact was rare between lab subjects on the colony—one behavioral evolutionary hurdle many of them didn’t try to vault. They could note hands and expressions through their sign language, but sustained eye contact was unusual, confrontational.
“I was sick of it too,” Ellie signed again, “All the injections. All the tests. The way they looked at us. They made us but they didn’t know what to do with us–”
“They raised us,” Winston signed back, “They were the closest thing we ever had to–”
“That was you and Doctor Winston,” Ellie signed, “You both imprinted. It was different for you.” 
“And Simon knew that. And he murdered him,” Winston signed, turning away from her. 
Ellie touched his shoulder and he was forced to look at her again. “We’re still your family,” she signed, “You don’t have to come to Simon’s meetings, but at least come work with me in hydroponics–that way Simon won’t think–” Ellie stopped as she noticed Winston seemed to be clearing his throat, bunching up his shoulders a bit. “…Winston?” she signed, backing up slightly, afraid he might roar at her.
“No,” said Winston, the word was a near grunt, but the consonant and vowel combo was unmistakeable.
Ellie’s hands froze mid-sign. “Did… you just…” her signing was slow, hesitant.
“No,” Winston said again, “No… Hido–Hydro-pron-ircs. Too… busy.”
“You’re verbal,” Ellie signed. She bounced up and down where she stood, hooting and eagerly signing, “Winston, you’ve gone verbal!”
“Shhh!!” Winston’s ‘shh’ was half a raspberry as he clumsily stuck his finger in front of his mouth.
“Simon’s the only other gorilla on the colony who’s verbal!” signed Ellie, “Say something else!”
“Some…thing… else,” Winston’s voice was deep and croaking. 
Ellie made an excited high pitched sound and Winston signed for her to quiet down again.
“Say another thing!” Ellie signed excitedly.
“Do you promise to be quiet if I do?” Winston signed back, furrowing his brow at her.
Ellie nodded, still bouncing up and down a bit.
Winston took a few steadying breaths. “N-nevurr. Never ax–Never accept th-the world… as…as it appears to be…” He looked over his shoulder at the earth past the observation deck telescope, “Dare to… see it for w-what it… c-could be.”
Ellie stared at him and stopped bouncing. “Doctor Winston?” she signed.
Winston nodded.
She looked off, now melancholy. “I’m sorry…” she signed.
“It… wasn’t… you,” said Winston.
“I know but…” Ellie signed and then trailed off, “Winston…” she signed, “You can say more than Simon. Much more.” she paused, “But that doesn’t make sense,” she signed, clearly attempting to negotiate her previous observations with what she was seeing and hearing now, “You scored below both Simon and Hypatia… significantly below them.”
Winston smiled.
“You flunked on purpose?!” Ellie signed, shocked.
“Not… flunked,” Winston said slowly, “Just… ansa–answered the… r-right k-kuh-questions wrong.” He paused and then signed, “Didn’t trust Simon. Didn’t want attention from him. Didn’t want him to see me as competition.”
Ellie shrugged a conceding agreement. “But,” she signed, “If your genetic modifications were this successful, you could be the Silverback! You challenge hi–”
“No,” Winston said again.
“Winston, you said yourself he’s a bully!” Ellie signed furiously, “I’d back you up! We could get others to–”
Winston shook his head. “No… more… fighting,” he said firmly. 
Ellie’s shoulders slumped a little, her signs were short and bitter. “If you won’t challenge Simon, and you won’t help me in hydroponics, then what are you doing over here that’s so—”
She looked over his shoulder at his computer screen, showing schematics for a rocket. Her eyes trailed from the screen to Winston.
“…You’re leaving?” she signed.
“I don’t… belong here,” Winston said slowly.
“All the parts and tools that have been disappearing around the colony… that was you…” Ellie signed.
Winston nodded.
“How much room is in your capsule?” signed Ellie.
Winston was silent.
“How much room!?” Ellie signed again.
Winston glanced off.
“So you’re leaving me too…” signed Ellie.
“The others… need you… here,” said Winston.
Ellie shrank a little where she stood. 
“I’m… sorry,” Winston’s voice was low.
Ellie took a deep breath. “How can I help?” she signed.
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