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wander-wren · 1 month

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sometimes i wonder about what fandom is going to look like in 5 or 10 years. i think we might have already started to see a shift.

because, look, most of the oldest, biggest fandoms are from tv shows and movies, in particular ones that go on for years and scores of episodes. star trek, star wars, stargate (is everything star?), doctor who, supernatural…even sherlock really got its biggest popularity boosts in the modern day from tv adaptations. marvel and dc were comics first, too, but movies made them more accessible; their “cinematic universe” tags are the biggest on ao3 by far.

but what tv shows are we getting now? short, 8-episode things that get canceled two or three seasons in, that are usually less-than-faithful adaptations of other media anyway.

what movies are we getting? well, marvel turns more to slop every day, and everything else is remakes and sequels no one asked for. the general populace will still go see them and find some good movies that they like, but there’s not much really for fandom to grasp onto.

the best shows for fandom that we’ve had recently, that i can think of, are stranger things, game of thrones, and maybe our flag means death. stranger things is dying off, especially since they’re looking at a 3-4 YEAR gap between s4 and s5. game of thrones’s popularity plummeted after its final season, we all know that. our flag means death is still chugging fairly okay, but after that second season a lot of the fandom dropped it, and with it now being cancelled, i don’t see it sticking around.

yes, we can chalk part of this up to a new generation to of fans having this growing idea that fandom is super temporary, to be abandoned as soon as its not on trend. but media used to be on trend for a whole lot longer than it is now. seasons were longer, we had filler episodes, things were lower quality sometimes but at least they came out on a consistent schedule. i don’t mind if supernatural isn’t an artistic masterpiece, but if i was a stranger things fan waiting until 2026 for the final season, i would be annoyed if it wasn’t damn near perfect. that’s assuming i watched it at all—we’re all so used to not getting endings and moving on, so why would i bother?

i think there are two types of shows doing sort of okay about this. one is procedurals—9-1-1 is a popular one i’ve run into, and it started in 2018, around the beginning of the decline, but it’s managed 7 seasons in those six years, most of them with 18 episodes. the other is, honestly, anime—though we can and SHOULD talk about the terrible working conditions that make the fast turnarounds there possible. look at how big some anime fandoms are.

judging by the relative fandom popularity of other procedural dramas (grey’s anatomy, law & order, criminal minds), i think that’s going to remain sort of niche. fandom likes fantasy and scifi best, and they just don’t tend to have as strong of an overarching arc to dig into. at least, that’s why i wouldn’t watch them. i think there’s also a good chance these will start to die out in the coming years as well.

anime could also die out a little bit. better working conditions would necessitate less/slower content, and it’s true that most of the popular anime fandoms have been around for years, even decades.

so, what, no new, lasting tv show or movie fandoms anymore?

what will the biggest fandoms be in 5-10 years?

podcast fandoms have a shot. the magnus archives is still going strong, and i’ve been seeing a lot about dungeons and daddies. i think we’re kind of almost past the golden age for podcasts, but i am an outsider, so maybe that will change.

book fandoms seem like a kind of obvious choice, but they just don’t get as big without, you guessed it, a movie or show adaptation. and the downsizing has hit them, too—can you think of anything from the last 5 or 10 years that rivals harry potter, percy jackson, warriors, lord of the rings, hunger games, acotar…even game of thrones (asoiaf) again? i can’t. the collapse of the publishing industry is another post entirely.

2020 is really what cemented these changes, though they were starting in the late 2010s, at least. with actual industries shutting down, there was room for indie creators making things alone in their houses to pop up, and people had more time on their hands to try new things out and get into them.

the two things that have really been on the rise since 2020 is rpf and video game fic—often both combined. we’ve got genshin impact, call of duty, minecraft of course being huge, rpf of various youtubers, and k-pop rpf. now, i think rpf is contentious enough that it won’t really become the main fandom, but video game fic…might be it.

even video blogging rpf can often be a blurred enough line that people are more comfortable with it. and the thing is…youtube creators are actually more reliable than mainstream television these days. they need to be, to maintain their platforms. they need to not cancel series and to live up to their own hype as best they can and to not abandon the channel for 3 or 4 years at a time. and again, you can talk about burnout and unrealistic expectations and all of those things, but it’s still true.

maybe i’m completely wrong. maybe in 10 years the film and publishing industries will all sort themselves out and we’ll go back to the status quo. but i think this position fandom is finding itself in is interesting, and i wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if what’s most popular (both in the specific source material sense and the medium/genre sense) is different some time down the road.

#wren wrambles #fanfiction #ao3 #fandom #fandom meta #fanfic #fanfiction meta #i’m curious what other people think about this #tempted to tag the fandoms i mentioned for reach but. dont know. we’ll see how this does

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gffa · 8 months

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The latest ending of Ahsoka really made me realize one of the big problems with Felony's writing and why so much of the Masndo-verse and Felony's modern writing falls flat compared to OWK and Andor. Shock value. A BIG twist cliffhanger that leaves us all mouth open and HYPING up the next episode in hope and filling the forums with discussions in anticipation. Understandably, he can't write what we wrote in our heads for 7 days and top that. 1.

2. But once that shock is gone when the story has moved onto the next big thing, or you watch it again when you know what it pays off in, or watch the whole series or season again, it just doesn't hold up. It's empty. Vapid. Because it's all about the shock. The twist. The discussion. The hype fodder. It's not saying anything or adding anything. OWK and Andor was a lot better at that, without the use of the nostalgia baiting that Felony relies on. 3. It becomes an endless circle of low lows and high highs, while OWK and Andor both slowly built up to the crescendo of discussions and speculations and both have stayed in the fandom consciousness alot longer thanks to that. And because they have something to say, both to the world and to the viewer. While with the Felony and the Fraudrou verses, it's just a constant barrage of oh wow, moving on, what's next? ehh, it's over, let's move on.

I feel like one day I'm going to do a longer analysis on why exactly Filoni's writing feels weak to me (where I try to be more fair than I'm usually feeling about his writing), because I don't think he's without a lot of talent and there's certain things he really does get about Star Wars, but I think so much comes back to that he's a writer who is caught in a difficult position--playing in someone else's sandbox but has to now establish his own new corners of that sandbox and I'm not sure he's strong enough to be a big picture kind of guy when he works better in smaller focus. His work on TCW and Rebels is content that we do come back to again and again for analysis, during my rewatches of both those series, those shows hold up! But I think they're ones where he had stronger guardrails up, and he was forced to stick to things in one place. I think live action has been bad for Filoni's writing because of the way so much is structured, that there are multiple series going on and I feel like his writing doesn't have the patience to actually tell a story in a single space, that's why we get Grogu's story being split between The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, that's why we get Mandalore's story being splintered across Rebels, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and now Ahsoka. We still haven't even seen half of the events that happen in the Mandalore bigger story! And you're right that he and Favreau both lean too hard on the cameos and echoes/rhymes for nostalgia's sake. And those reference points are often extremely fun in the moment! And I'll grant that the Luke episodes are ones I go back to fairly often, because I think there's some really good content in there about what attachment actually means. But I don't think it's that surprising, looking back, how quickly the Favroni shows fell apart for us and how it doesn't feel like they're establishing anything that can support a bunch of books and comics. I suspect that Disney's not allowed to have books/comics/etc. based on Favroni's shows because they want creative control over those characters while they're still actively writing for them, but also I look at the OT and the PT and look how much was built off those movies+TCW as a foundation, I look at how much you're able to still watch those and find new things to analyze, and I just don't feel that with Filoni's writing anymore, not since Rebels, not to that level, anyway. (I'll grant that I've been a lot more excited about the Ahsoka series and what we can say about it/find in analyzing it than I expected, I expected nothing but shitposts like we did with Mandalorian s3, but I've had fun with serious meta in Ahsoka! I was genuinely excited to come on-line after episode 4 and talk about themes and structure and how well Filoni did with that there!) Ultimately, I think Filoni (and Favreau) both have a lot of talent, but I think they're being pushed too hard to make too much too quickly and that it shows that they're making this up as they go along, rather than that they had a vision they've been crafting for years and any kind of idea of where they want the end goal to be. Like, yeah, Lucas wrote some stuff on the fly, he changed his mind about things along the way, but he had an end point in mind for his story, so the echoes/rhymes felt more resonant for me. Favroni don't feel like they have any idea where they're going and so much winds up feeling like shock value and self-reference for nostalgia bad for me instead of something that's Going Somewhere.

#lumi.txt #star wars #dave filoni #sw negativity

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grandeoatmilklatte · 8 months

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HL Characters and their Horror Movie Tropes

+ a Horror movie character I think they're most similar to and their likelihood of survival!

I randomly got hit with this idea in my sleep, so now it's on my blog! Hopefully this hasn't been done before! Of course these are my opinions based on my stupid little brain, but feel free to nicely let me know your thoughts. Also, because this has to do with horror movies, there will of course be mentions of D34th, so please keep that in mind. And if I gave your favorite character a low chance of survival, know that I am truly sorry, but someone's gotta go in a Horror film!

Some spoilers will be present for some movies, so please be advised.

Ominis Gaunt:

Trope: Ominis is the resourceful friend. The one who's instantly trying to find a reasonable escape route. He's the one you want when you're trapped in an escape room. Ominis is determined to figure out who the killer is and TAKE THEM DOWN. Final Girl energy to the max. Not even his disability is stopping him.

Character: Erin - You're Next (2011) - Such an under rated Final Girl. Erin is resourceful, knows how to put up a fight, and she's got a rough background that helps her survive. No doubt that Ominis's ruthless upbringing as a Gaunt would come in handy when it comes to survival. He likely knows how to fight, and would get brutal if it came to saving himself and his friends. Erin uses her environment to her advantage, which I know Omi would. (i know there's debate as to whether or not Erin does live, but I'd like to believe she does!)

Likelihood of survival: 96%

Garreth Weasley:

Trope: Garreth is the comic relief friend. May or may not be helpful in terms of escaping, but at least he's good at keeping the group entertained while they're trying to escape the haunted house. He's eager to help and subdue the killer, although he may screw up sometimes. It’s really up to chance whether he’d live or not, which breaks my heart to say cause I love my baby boy Garreth, but I'm trying to be realistic. If he did die, his death would be the most devastating for the group and the audience because of how much of a loved character he was.

Character: I have two that fit Garreth fairly well! Dewey - Scream (1996) and Marty - Cabin in the Woods (2011). Dewey because like Garreth, Dewey is a lovable goofball, but can put up a fight when needed. He cares about his friends, is brave, and still survives despite taking some nasty hits, and I feel like Garreth could take a few hits without being fatally hurt. And then Marty because Marty is hilarious, like Garreth. We all know Garreth would be a stoner a modern day setting, like Marty, and despite Garreth's goofy nature, he isn't dumb by any means, like Marty (Marty is the one to first notice something is up). Plus, like Marty, Garreth is the secret hottie. Movie fun fact - in the scene where they all swim in the lake, Marty is the only one that doesn't take his shirt off and jump in because the actor was actually MORE RIPPED than Chris Hemsworth, and it would have ruined the illusion of Marty being the lanky stoner and Chris being the hot jock.

Likelihood of survival: 75%

Sebastian Sallow:

Trope: Sebastian would try to be the hero for sure (if he isn't the killer). He's eager to find the killer, especially if his lover is in danger. He'll protect them and the rest of the friend group as much as he can. He definitely has Final Girl energy as well, but is at super high risk of dying if he's not careful due to his eagerness to fight the killer off. If he's the killer, he would be the jealous, jilted, boyfriend type, the hot jock guy that you wouldn't suspect (or maybe you would). He's doing this because he was hurt and is getting revenge. His Final Girl will have a lot on her plate.

Character: For the hero role: Ash - The Evil Dead (1981) - Boys can be Final Girls too!! Ash kicks ass and looks hot doing it. He's determined to survive and stops at nothing to do so. For the killer role: Billy - (Scream 1996) - Hot jilted boyfriend. Billy is ruthless in his killing, but thankfully he has an awesome Final Girl to put him in his place.

Likelihood of survival: as a hero - 85%, as the killer - 40%

Imelda Reyes:

Trope: Imelda is the bitchy popular girl that you grow to love as the movie progresses. Sadly she will not survive, and she'd be another sad fan favorite death. She deserved to be a Final Girl with her confidence and attitude, but sadly survival was not in the cards. She did put up one hell of a fight though!

Character: Tatum - Scream (1996). Tatum is confident and tough, and absolutely deserved to be a Final Girl. Tatum even taunts Ghostface before he attacks her, which is totally something Imelda would do. She puts up one hell of a fight, but loses the fight eventually, we know Imelda is fiesty and would fight the killer to the bitter end.

Likelihood of survival: 10%

Leander Prewitt:

Trope: Leander seems like the type to trust very easily, which means he would put way too much trust in the killer, and it might be his demise. As much as I love Leander, he would be easy to lure in. He would put up a fight, but it would be futile. He would at least have the opportunity to warn the others that there's a killer in their midst, giving the group a fighting chance. There's also a chance he could just get knocked out by the killer, the killer thinks he's dead, but he's not! (It hurts my heart to potentially kill him but not everyone can live in a Horror movie!) If you have a better trope idea please let me know cause I felt bad for him!

Character: Aaron - Creep (2014) - (Major spoilers incoming for this one and the sequel) Aaron should have left at the first sign of Joseph being weird, but he didn't. He stayed for far longer than he should have, and even when he DID ESCAPE, he still agreed to meet with him later, which led to his end. My hope is that Leander would be more like Sara - Creep 2 (2017). She also makes the mistake of trusting Joseph far too much, but she at least escapes and survives the film (although Joseph is definitely still looking for her. )

Likelihood of survival: 30%

Amit Thakkar:

Trope: The smart one!! The one who told the group not to touch the cursed object/not to go in the haunted house. Although he'd definitely be a scaredy cat, he'd be eager to find them a way out. Will likely not try to fight the killer though, and will just be focused on escaping. That is of course, if he even ends up in that situation in the first place. He’d be the type to not even follow the group to begin with, thus escaping the entire movie.

Character: Gavin - The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) - As soon as Gavin realizes something's not right, HE LEAVES. He doesn't wait around for shit to hit the fan. He quits the documentary while everyone else fucks around and finds out. Thus, surviving the movie.

Likelihood of survival: 90%

Poppy Sweeting:

Trope: Poppy is a sweetheart! She’s friendly and cares about animals (beasts). She wouldn’t hurt a fly. Right? You ever meet someone that’s just too nice and you can tell there’s probably a darkness to her, waiting to be unleashed? Poppy seems like the perfect killer because of how unexpected it would be. Her bubbly personality is a perfect way to lure someone in before she attacks. We all know she doesn’t bat an eye to the use of unforgiveables on poachers. On the brightside, she isn’t that difficult to take down once you outsmart her.

Character: (This is going to be an obscure one. If you know what movie this is, please let me know cause I want to be friends!!) Rebecca - Superhost (2021) - Superhost is an indie horror movie about a vlogging couple who vlog from Airbnbs. They stay at this one Airbnb owned by a Superhost named Rebecca. Rebecca is bubbly and sweet, but there’s just something off about her, and she gets progressively scarier as the movie progresses. Her character is adorable, sweet, but totally unhinged. If Poppy was into vacation homes instead of beasts, this would be her.

Likelihood of survival: 50%

Natty Onai:

Trope: Natty is a true Gryffindor. She’s brave and protective of her loved ones. She has the makings of a Final Girl, but her eagerness to fight back puts her in danger frequently, and she could possibly go as a result. She would need to scale back and not act on impulse if she wants to survive the film.

Character: Helen - I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) - I know I just said Natty has Final Girl vibes, but there’s too many Final Girls on this list already, so for her I’m picking a girl who SHOULD have been a Final Girl, and definitely had the makings of one. Helen is badass, popular, and puts up a fight to stay alive. She would have been a much better Final Girl than Julie (Julie sucks!!). Helen’s death was lame, but heartbreaking. Another fan favorite unfairly taken away. Also, Helen’s actress is also miss Buffy FREAKING Summers, another badass lady who I feel like Natty would vibe well with.

Likelihood of survival: 40%

MC:

Character: MC is another character that could be either the hero or the killer. As the hero, they are determined to protect those they love, and fight the killer to the bitter end. They obviously have major plot armor. They might discover they have superpowers just when they're about to die, and they use the superpowers to fight off the killer, thus surviving the movie. As the killer, they would definitely be the type of killer who didn’t start off that way, and turned evil due to the things that were done to them.

Trope: As a hero - Sienna Shaw - Terrifier 2 (2022) - Why does she have super powers? Who knows? But she's cool and just when hope is lost, she's able to use her powers to protect her loved ones and defeat Art the Clown. As a killer - Jane Doe in The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2014) (major spoiler for the movie incoming!!!) she wasn’t inherently evil, but after being tortured and being accused of witchcraft, her corpse became evil, cursing anyone who dares touch her. She’s also super powerful considering she doesn’t move for most of the movie. This level of overpowered-ness is also a trait of our MC.

Likelihood of survival: as a hero: 98%, as the killer: 98%

Bonus! Duncan Hobhouse LOL

Trope: Duncan would bring about the horror to begin with. He's the one accidentally reading from cursed books out loud, the one who's accidentally watching a cursed tape, and the one using the ouija board. He's not surviving. BYE. He'll be screaming the whole time, giving up the group's location to the killer constantly. The other characters will spend the rest of the movie hating him because he got them in this mess to begin with.

Character: Every person in the Evil Dead franchise that plays the recording that raises the deadites. You should never play mysterious records, especially ones you find in a creepy cabin or in a hole in the ground.

Likelihood of survival: 2%

#Hogwarts legacy headcannons #ominis gaunt #garreth weasley #sebastian sallow #imelda reyes #poppy sweeting #leander prewett #natsai onai #amit thakkar #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy headcanons

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randomgentlefolk · 4 months

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CPC CHAPTER 161 + 162 + 163

*rises from the dead* what...what year is this...?

Look, the only thing I can say as an opening to these chapters is DAMN

Okay yeah Lorena would say this lmao.

Nahh I'm guessing Prez in her spider form does not know about Whitney apologizing and all? Because she's mainly looking at Whitney, and it looks like she took a moment to recognize who he is.

Man, Whitney really hasn't forgive himself. But at the same time I can't really blame him, y'know? I think I would have a hard time forgiving myself either if I was in his position. But! I do hope he can forgive himself and improve himself more and more. His past may be bad, but I'm sure he's looking up to a better future.

CURTIS TO THE RESCUE!!

Dang that's one way to open a big ahh door lmao XD

OH HECK NAH I HOPE MOLLY WILL BE ALRIGHT. The blood coming out of her mouth is worrying me...

Finally!! The Pastel Princesses are showing their powers! May I say Lorena's weapons are SICK. THE THORNY VINES AROUND COLONEL SNUGGLES?? SUZIE'S SWORD?? LORENA'S UHH... KUSARIGAMA?? I'm not sure what lorena's weapon is, but it reminds me of Michaelangelo's weapon from tmnt 2012.

Maria calling her animal troop HECK YEAH. The animals attacking Leland is so satisfying. Leland is lucky Maria didn't call a tiger or smth.

OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS HECK NO. Ugh I can imagine the cracking sound from Aurelia's leg. Y'know i didn't expect this ship (whether romantic or platonic) was gonna happen, but i'm not unwelcome to it.

Dangg Frederick, you go gymnastic king XD

Hah! His chanting actually made me smile XD yes frederick, you are the tiniest prince....you are the tiniest prin–

YOOOOOOO Leelathae's portrait???? I am really convinced now that Leelathae is in Gwen's dream!! I hope she's going to protect Gwen from Leland somehow, but i'm sure now that she will help realize who Gwen's true love is. Which, I'm fairly sure by now, is Gwen herself. I mean, it fits with the theme of the comic soooo

With the mix of modern and traditional technologies in cpc, i do now wonder why they don't build an elevator inside castles considering the amount of floors there are. I'm thinking...Steampunk styled elevator?

•●•

INTOOOOO LEELATHAE'S BACKSTORY!!

-> Sheesh! Leelathae's reflection is getting worse and worse... Perhaps it's because she doesn't love herself because of herself anymore? Well now that that's in mind, Gwen is kind of repeating history.

I just wanna say I love how Jack is gonna make the wedding fits both his and Leelathae's liking. I know that is an average kindess act for marriage but it's still pretty heartwarming for me.

Ngl I'm curious what Leland and Isolde's wedding was like. I hope we'll get at least a picture!

Aw, this interaction is adorable. Look at how Isolde is smiling! I hope we will get her smiling like this in the present time..

WOAH WOAH WOAH. I mean, I was sure Jack would eventually confront his parents, but dang. Actually, it makes sense how Helena and Jesse starts seeing their reflection wrong too. I think with how much they talk about their beauty, they don't love their inner self (their personality) and instead too focused on their outward beauty. So I'm guessing here that what triggers the reflection problem on people, is personal hurtful words? First with Gwen, Frederick calling her ugly. Leelathae, Helena and Jesse calling her ugly. And now with Helena and Jesse, Jack called them hideous.

But y'know what? I am so glad Jack confronted his parents. It feels SO good. He loves Leelathae so much, it's so heartwarming.

So happy that Helena and Jesse are running away on their own. Let's hope they never come back...

....huh.

I genuinely dunno how to feel about flashback Leland now. Is he being genuine? I don't know. But it's nice that he's at least trying to comfort Jack. Too bad he regrets it now tho lmao XD sucks to be you Leland hahahah.

Since Leland is comforting Jack...Um, Isolde and Leelathae moment? Lambcat? I really wanna see them just having conversation together because last time Isolde thought Leelathae was stealing her food xd

Leelathae's wedding dress!! It matches Gwen's!!! I guess Leland really remembered that lmao. Damn Leland crying and Isolde just stared with concern XD (i would've added Gwen's wedding dress photo but Tumblr's max pictures :( )

Okay can we talk about how majestic Jack's hair is??? Like dang pop off king. Now I know why Maria's hair is so beautiful.

It's sweet how Jack would do anything to Leelathae aww.

Uh, yeah, no, I am not going to talk about that uhh "diagram" the doctor gave to Leelathae. Nope. Nu uh.

•●•

Back to the present let's gooooo!!

A for effort, Miss Agatha. A for effort....

HAHAH GOOD LUCK LELAND GOOD LUCK LMAO. I nearly forgot about the thorns covering Gwen. Honestly I wonder how no one from the Plaid kingdom (beside Frederick, Leopold and iirc Isolde who already knew) questions about the fact that she has not got woken up from a literal war that's happening in her palace.

Hah! I live for Frederick and Aurelia bickering. I especially love how Frederick is being argumentative. Usually he can be pretty uh..pushover? Actually the correct words would be he doesn't have any moment to stand up for himself :')

Yep! Confirmed once again! Leland is the serpent!

YOU GO CURTIS!! HECK YEA!!

Jamie is a mood with that speech. And the fact that he has not only 1, but 2 ultimate flashbang??? DAMN JAMIE.

Ohoho what am I sensing here? What did you write Leopold?? I can hear the Leomie shippers screaming right now lol.

HECK NO??? WTF DO U MEAN YOU'RE GONNA CRUSH HER??? NO NO NO????

LANCE!!! MY BOY!!! I LOVE HIM!!! LANCE!!!

Okay those are ALL of the chapters lmao that was long! Uh, what have I been doing to the point I post 3 chapters late? Ahaha....u see... i actually have not excuse. I apologize.

That's all for now!!

Mono out! (But still in to hear your thought)

#cursed princess club #cpc

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rjavenuru · 3 months

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bluhhh invades ur inbox to ask you about headcanons :P

Why do you think Spooky is stuck with Poshe? (assuming he isn't just torturing himself willingly by sticking around for whatever reason)

If we are assuming that Spooky is a human spirit then the first option is that cruel fate dictated that his soul should not be free (for some reason) but bound to a random human, fate not having any care or ability to ascertain that it is an actual human that he would be stuck to. Like random ”roommates” drawn out of a hat.

Another option could be that Spooky was sent by some other force to either watch over Poshe or keep an eye on him. We can assume the existence of Heaven/Hell, with only relevance to humans, so perhaps Heaven and Hell knowing that he is ”a vistior” maybe without a clear idea of what his purpose is, Heaven might be inclined to send some spirit or other to try to guide this visitor to the good side. Not accounting for the fact that Poshe is so utterly self centered (and insane from isolation in space) that instead of heeding the advice of the friendly spirit that suddenly appeared upon his arrival on Earth he corrupts it so it itself becomes nasty and self centered like he is. The only impact Spooky would have perhaps being that Poshe decides that he doesn’t want to pave Earth over and would like to save the humans, maybe even not having a clear idea /why/ he wants this. It has simply become his mission and what Poshe believes goes. Similarly, Hell could have decided that this strange creature from somewhere else than Earth would be worth keeping an eye on, sending either a human soul or a Hell spirit to keep an eye on him and report to them his shenanigans. I imagine a lot of his exploits would tickle Satan, that is until he starts trying to spread mirth among the dark souls of Earth.

A third option could be that Spooky used to be a human, not a very nice human, and that his eternal soul was damned (either by Heaven or Hell or both, I like to think that they work together more than they let on) to serve a living human soul as salvation for his own soul, a sort of afterlife community service.

Three implications of this:

-If Spooky is a human soul then he must have been attached to Poshe after humans became humans in the modern sense. Which would, among other things, mean that at the beginning of the comic when Poshe is visiting various time points in human history (and Spooky is already there) would not be his ”first contact”. Considering that he does this again later in the comic I would think that it’s fairly canon to think that first contact would be a lot closer to modern times but Poshe has made several failed attempts at traveling back and ”fixing humanity”, only to cement his impact further (You know, the whole ”the definition of insanity is trying the same thing again and again, expecting different results” thing).

-If Spooky was supposed to be attached to an actual human it might not be so strange that he is pissy, when it is considered that he could either have ”worked off” this service he was supposed to deliver or served the punishment he was supposed to serve, but since Poshe is immortal he is stuck until eternity or until someone or something finally destroys Poshe so utterly that he won’t be able to regenerate. Bottom line being that the forces that attached him to Poshe were ignorant of Poshe not being human and unable to terminate this bond except with Poshes death. This could also be why Spooky some times seems to almost /try/ to get Poshe killed! Spookys purpose might even have been to do good by this human he was attached to to save his own soul when the human died so there would have been a point where Spooky relised that wasn’t going to happen, essentially dooming him to ”hell on Earth”.

-If Spooky was damned as a human soul to some Hell punishment or limbo situation he might not have appeared immediately when Poshe arrived on Earth. So Poshe could have been alone in space for a long time before Spooky arrived (he might even have been cursed with him during one of his time travels) and then again a long time before he built Sinestro, even further ingraining his insanity.

#Ask #Omg!#Oh my goth!#Comics #Aurelio voltaire #Canon #Headcanon #Poshe #Spooky

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sineala · 1 year

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Do you know of any Captain America comic where Cap thinks about or does go back to his original time, but then decides he doesn't belong there anymore and comes back (or decides not to go back at all idk)? Is that a thing, or did I make it up in my head? I figured you might know, but if you don't sorry to bug you!

You are thinking of a real comic! The comic you are probably thinking of Mark Waid's five-issue miniseries Captain America: Man Out of Time, which is a modern retelling of Steve's origin story. Man Out of Time is probably my favorite Cap comic, specifically because of the decision Steve makes.

So there's him getting frozen and found by the Avengers in Avengers #4, but the retelling also covers a few more of the issues after that. In particular, it goes up through Avengers #8, which is the first appearance of Kang the Conqueror. (Though, technically, of course, he says he's also a couple other villains who have already appeared. Kang's gonna Kang.)

What actually happens in Avengers #8 is a fairly standard supervillain fight -- the Avengers fight him, mostly get captured and taken to his spaceship, get rescued, then punch him some more. They destroy some of his weapons and reflect others, and then he gets in his spaceship and retreats, zooming away. So that's canon. Just so you know what canonically happens. Nothing that happens in Man Out of Time is technically 616 canon. But that doesn't mean it's not a good story.

So this isn't how it goes in Man Out of Time's version of Avengers #8. At all.

I was going to make this a much longer post with many more panels but the very very short summary of the miniseries is that this is a version of Steve's early days in the future focusing heavily on his alienation from modern society -- he spends almost all of Avengers #4 convinced he's dreaming and he's going to wake up any minute.

He must be dreaming. Why are the Dodgers in Los Angeles?

When he finally accepts that it's real, he immediately wants to find someone who will send him back so he can try to save Bucky.

Reed Richards has a time machine, so Steve does possess the capability to go back.

Tony takes Steve on a date to the Smithsonian (as well as a private Radiohead concert and apparently Steve likes Radiohead?) and tries to sell him one last time on the wonders of the future, like how we have space travel now and less sexism and less racism and way fewer vaccine-preventable diseases and God I liked this book so much better when I thought people would all want to be vaccinated against diseases that could kill them.

Anyway. Steve can't be convinced; he still wants to go back to the forties. Eventually the president has to tell him he can't go back because he knows too much about the future.

Steve's not happy.

I was going to say that Mark Waid did not have to go this hard but I think maybe he did.

So Steve has to stay and he's miserable and then he starts to hate a lot of things about the future that are still bad. He finds out human trafficking exists. He finds out the designated-hitter rule exists. These things are not really comparable but he's upset about both of them. He finds out about domestic terrorism. The Vietnam War. MLK's assassination. This wasn't what he thought he was fighting for.

(The events of Avengers #5-7 happen in the background.)

And that's when we get to Avengers #8 and Kang. Kang captures the team. And Kang sends Steve back in time. To 1945. To V-J Day. So this is after Bucky is gone, but still, this is Steve's home, right? He should be happy. And for a bit, he is. He's a returning soldier, just like all the other GIs. A hot dog costs a nickel, like it ought to.

And then things start to fall apart. He goes to a Dodgers game, the Brooklyn Dodgers, as they obviously ought to be. I don't know why so much of Steve's personal betrayal by the future and also the past is about baseball, but, yeah, it is. So he watches the game and he starts talking to the kid and his father sitting next to him and the kid's a big Dodgers fan, right? Loves baseball. So Steve asks him if he wants to play for the Dodgers when he grows up.

Relevant information: the kid's black.

(Other relevant information, if you're not a baseball fan: Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play in major-league baseball, started playing for the Dodgers in 1947. He was in the minor leagues in 1946. But this story is set in 1945.)

So naturally the father would like Steve to stop lying about how his son could ever play for the Dodgers because obviously integrated baseball is a fantasy.

Steve is starting to suspect that maybe the past isn't as great as he remembered.

(Incidentally, a nice development in actual baseball news a couple years ago is that Baseball Reference, the big baseball stats organization, finally integrated... their data. All of the Negro Leagues statistics are now listed as major league, so a lot of good players are finally getting the recognition they deserve.)

Anyway. Steve can't find most of the people he knew in the war but then runs into a GI he knew, who wants to talk to him about how great life is now. He's not feeling it.

He realizes it's because he left the Avengers. He couldn't save Bucky. But he can still save the Avengers from Kang. He needs to help them. That's where he needs to be.

Luckily, he has his identicard still on him! And he can leave them a message!

He tells Rick when and where he is, and Reed comes and picks him up in his time machine.

And then he and the Avengers kick Kang's ass.

The miniseries then ends with Steve going to the Grand Canyon, where Bucky said he always wanted to visit. So Steve draws Bucky. But Steve knows now that he can't live in the past. It's tempting, he says. But it's where fossils come from.

So he lies there. He goes through his CDs. He sets aside Bing Crosby. And he listens to Radiohead. Because he lives in the future now.

So, yeah.

I love this miniseries and it really shaped how I view Steve as a character and I love that he got the chance to make this decision and he made it and I really didn't like Avengers: Endgame.

(There is another universe where Steve faces a similar decision. This is probably not the issue you were thinking of, but Marvel Adventures Avengers #37 has a plot where the Invaders -- who seem to be some kind of combination of the Invaders and the All-Winners Squad, and also it's the 50s -- come to the present and offer Steve a chance to come back. Steve seems to be seriously considering it but before he can decide whether to use the doll that will send him back to the past, Wolverine destroys it because the future needs him here and Steve's like, yeah, you're probably right. So he's still in the future but... he didn't actually get to decide that.)

I hope Man Out of Time is the comic you're thinking of! If you like Steve at all, you should read it. It's the best.

#replies #snooglepoot

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jojotranslates · 1 year

Text

Fansubs released for Bamse (1972-1981)

So a little while ago, @the-best-fictional-turtle held a tournament about fictional turtles. Skalman, one of the central protagonists from Swedish children's comic Bamse, somehow made it in. On my sideblog, I joked that I'd translate every single comic in the franchise's 57-year long history if he won. And well... He actually won!

While I genuinely can't translate the whole comic as promised, the creator's animated shorts made in the 70's and 80's have now been subbed. These shorts are missing a lot of the modern cast, and the comic's strong educational tone is not as apparent here. But if you like funny little animals going on funny little adventures with some bonkers sound effects you may enjoy it!

The series is legally available on SVT Play for free*: here's a very basic guide on how to use the site if you don't know Swedish.

That being said, I'm going to do something different than usual. Characters are often named after their species and/or character traits in this series... So this time I would like to provide two versions of the subs:

With no localised names (on Dropbox) - ready!

With localised names (OSS, Subscene, & Dropbox) & other corrections if necessary - eventually

Under the read more there is more info on what exactly I plan to localise and how well (or poorly) I'm doing with those plans.

Happy watching!

Like I said I can't localise the whole franchise, but I still want to leave some doors open for the future when picking names.

So:

First I have to address Vargen. You'll notice that he gets called "the wolf" even in the un-localised version. This is because, according to his backstory, he doesn't have a proper name. His caretakers just called him "vargen"/"the wolf" despite being wolves themselves. So just in case I decide to translate the stories detailing this backstory one day, I couldn't give him a name either. sorry wolf :(

Bamse is a tough one, and I'm leaning toward not localising it. Even the official localisation gave up and just called him "Bamsy"! For comparison, the word "bamse" in Swedish is usually an adjective meaning "big", and occasionally a noun referring to a bear. So even though Bamse is a fairly small bear, it fits him well... I guess Teddy would have been a decent name for him, but there is a comic typically considered the "prototype version" of Bamse which features a similar protagonist already called Teddy. And later in this series, Bamse actually has a son called Teddy... So no dupes allowed.

Lille Skutt -> Good grief. The official localisation called him Little Frisky. But in the original both he and his son are named after terms related to jumping, so I would prefer to save that theming for later. Hopper always sounds nice, so Little Hopper... Then his child could remain "Mini-Hopp" (with or without that extra p). But their names become too similar then? I'm still frantically looking through naming sites and can't find anything useful... of course the anxious little guy would cause me the most stress trying to think of a name for him EDIT: A simpler alternative would just be Little Jump... Thinking I might settle for that for now.

Skalman -> Shellback. Taken from the official English localisation, which actually called him Professor Shellback. I'll cut the Professor to save space in the subs/speech bubbles. (For comparison, his original name means Shell man.)

There are a number of side characters with a "human" first name and species as their last names, i.e. Mickelina Räv and her parents (foxes), Ola Grävling (racoon badger sorry), Annika Anka (duck)... I'll probably just translate the species and leave the names alone. (Nina Kanin didn't show up in these shorts but might be an issue later, since her name is supposed to be a palindrome as well as a reference to her being a rabbit...)

#Bamse #Sweblr #Fansub #Long post #''Why don't you upload the non-localised version to those other sites as well?'' I just dislike uploading a thing twice to the same place #Also: have I spent more time just drafting this post than watching the show? Possibly. This is even harder than I thought it'd be #Svenska #A lot of people voting for Skalman in the tournament were like ''he taught me to relax'' but clearly I didn't listen as a kid #For the record I scheduled this to post when I am at an event so if you have any questions/complaints... be patient #Fansubbing

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tgirldarkholme · 8 months

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I'm sure you're right but why do you dislike the Carol Corps when you're such a Carol Danvers fan???

First, never assume anyone on the Internet you don't know is a dog is right.

In case this wasn't clear I consider myself foremost a Marvel's Marvel Family fan. Anyone who has held one of the Marvel Family titles (Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Protector of the Universe, Quasar, etc.) and their supporting cast is part of it. I think it should be more often conceptualized as such, the way the DC Marvel Family (or the Batfamily, the Spider-Family, etc.) is, with one ongoing per character regularly crossing over, maybe a common editorial, etc.

The Monica fandom is fairly friendly with the Vells fandom/general cosmic Marvel fandom, the Kamala fandom, etc. united under the stance of wanting more exposure for their characters, while the "Carol Corps" (ie those who are KSD stans first and foremost) are extremely hostile to any Marvel Family content outside what's in the footprints of Kelly Sue DeConnick (and you know how I feel about her characterization).

This can have an undercurrent of queerphobia like the attempts at making cosmic Marvel "more mainstream" (ie straight) certainly, but what is most overt is just how insanely racist they are, which I'm certainly not the first to notice. (I mean, Monica fans were already fighting KSD on this very site over this that she had to write (as the sixth issue of her run) a story acknowledging Monica (which she never did for Phyla btw) and having her team up with Carol, but with Carol absorbing Monica for a power-up, which might have been a way to "get at" the Monica fans who were bothering her under the pretense of appeasing them.)

However, it became an increasingly major problem after the movie was released (with its infamously racist treatment of the Rambeau family, and arguably of Nick Fury), bringing a lot of attention to the characters. It has resurfaced as the "Carol Corps" lash out at any news suggesting that Monica or Kamala might get more exposure (as the director and writer of the sequel is a black Monica fan), like when the name "The Marvels" was revealed, when SLJ called Monica the Black Captain Marvel, even with something as anodyne as the account for movie news updates posting a comic-book panel of Monica.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%22In%20Marvel%20mythology%2C%20Captain%20Marvel%20is%20the%20legacy%20of%20Mar-Vell%22%20OR%20%22was%20forcibly%20named%20CM%22%20OR%20youtu.be%2Fl2Y8VXoCpcE&f=live

This behavior has gone widespread with functionally no overt pushback from editors and writers. I mentioned that KSD issue with bizarrely racist subtext surrounding Monica borne out of a fight with Monica fans on here (which may not a big deal in the grand scheme of things and I don't think KSD is a racist, at least against black people, but it represent the earliest spat – the general lesbophobia surrounding Phyla-Vell, Tracy Burke, and Avril Kincaid under KSD and Stohl is quite more concerning).

This has led modern cosmic Marvel writers to ignore Carol's existence as much as editorial will let them to (LoCM makes her basically unwrittable in a cosmic Marvel context anyway, which was the point), while Monica Rambeau writers have made their distaste for the racist treatment of the character, and in particular for KSD's run and the MCU, quite clear, indirectly in the comics themselves through not always subtle jabs, more directly outside of them (1, 2).

That situation will continue as long as the "Carol Corps" is the way it is and there's no real effort to push back against it and put all the Marvel Family characters on an equal footing.

#marvel #marvel critical #mcu critical #captain marvel #mar-vell #monica rambeau #genis-vell #phyla-vell #carol danvers #kelly sue deconnick #margaret stohl #anti kelly sue deconnick #anti margaret stohl

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wonderlandleighleigh · 2 years

Note

Could you make one of the "public" reacting to the Lenny/Midge relationship?

Or maybe Penny Pann seeing them and judging 😅

COMEDY AND CUPID?

by L Roy Dunham

Dear readers, it seems that our city's most tasteless comic has found herself a man.

That's right. Mrs. Maisel - she of the unfunny punchline and former burlesque MC duties, now currently in-house comic for Gordon Ford - has found a new romance with one Lenny Bruce. They were spotted walking hand-in-hand in Midtown a few nights ago, and even sharing what looked to be a rather steamy embrace.

Are we really surprised? Mrs. Maisel got her start opening for Bruce at the Gaslight when Sophie Lennon had tried to blackball her from the local clubs (a valiant endeavor). They've been popping up at each other's shows for a number of years at this point. It was only a matter of time before the relationship went public.

With her shiny new television spot and his run at Carnegie Hall followed by his Chicago charges being dropped, it's no wonder the two are now being a little less conspicuous about a relationship that has likely being going on for a while.

So what does this all mean?

Likely that she truly did get her start by opening for Bruce in a number of different ways. Certainly that comedy for Maisel has been a mere husband hunt.

And seemingly, she's found one.

Good for you, Mrs. Maisel. May you remarry, and go back to your Jell-O molds, never to grace our comedy clubs again.

The New Feminine School of Comedy, Jewishness and the Art of Minding One's Own Business

By Lenny Bruce

I suppose I can press pause on my history of comedy and the modern sense of humor series to address some things. Right? That's allowed. Sure.

Yes, I am seeing a very funny lady that I have known for a number of years. We have been friends for a while, and things have progressed into romance. They do that from time to time. It's fairly common actually, for consenting adults to one day look at someone they like or admire or even care for and think "Oh. It's you."

It even happens to us celebrities.

Let's get down to it:

Now, Timmy. When a man and a woman love each other very much -

Wait, wrong lecture.

Right.

This paper has printed quite a few articles about how unfunny Midge Maisel is. Her humor is not for everyone, I suppose. It's very feminine, which is a brand of comedy a lot of people just aren't used to yet. It's a new concept for women to go on stage at a smoky club and talk the way men do about their lives. Men have done it for decades, of course, but women are expected to stay in their home kitchens (god forbid they set foot in professional ones, right?), raise their children and die shortly after their husbands do.

But Midge Maisel decided to do something different with the very real pain of being left by a self-centered husband with two children and no job.

She got on a stage and she talked about how much it stinks.

How dare she! Trying things that men do. What nerve. What gall.

Maisel's brand of humor is also very Jewish. She is a Jewish woman who was raised in a Jewish community who is raising her own children in a Jewish community. And I wonder if these hit pieces that the Daily News sees fit to print are veiled attempts at antisemitism. It certainly feels that way sometimes. We are, after all, very easy targets. I bet you can find a few nice old men in Argentina who can confirm that fact.

As a Jew myself, I can tell you that I am deeply aware when I read something that feels strange; when you know you are being singled out because you are Other. Some of these articles feel that way. It's unsettling.

In regards to my relationship with Midge Maisel, that's really no one's business but ours. I suppose if you must pass judgement on two divorced people making a go at something new, you may, but it won't change anything. She makes me laugh. She makes me very happy. I like to think I do those things for her. Ain't love grand?

As a point of order, this will be the only time I address my love life in these articles. Next time, I promise: none of you will have to bother reading anything like this again. Next time, I'll just call my lawyer.

He won't mind hearing from me for a sixth time this week. We've become pals, you know?

Next week, we'll be looking at the concept of The Fool in a historical context and how it bleeds into our modern sensibilities.

Until then, readers.

#fic #au #tmmm #Midge/Lenny #Midge x Lenny

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davidmariottecomics · 2 months

Text

Not So Evergreen: A Perennial Problem

Hi there,

Wouldja believe it, this week I was thinking about comics?

I know, it's hard to imagine I've had time around Valentine's Day and preparing for our impending nuptuals (which you can contribute to if you're so inclined!).

Or around the continued bullshit that is KOSA, which you might've noticed is NOT actually fixed--and still needs to be stopped. Or, as long as we're talking about regulation and the internet and what can/should be regulated to try to make it a better safer place, all the latest "Generative AI" nonsense (not linking anything in particular here, but there're new stupid developments every day).

Or while keeping track of what's happening in Gaza and, specifically, in Rafah, where Palestinians were told to evacuate to and that is now under bombing, or as they continue to attack hospitals and kill civilians. Sharing up top some recent resources I've seen, including a nice list of places where you can donate (you may also notice the PCRF on our registry and thanks to the folks who've already given there) and a nice collection of Palestinian cultural reading and listening and cooking you can do. There continue to be demonstrations and actions--with a lot in the past week being organized to keep hands off Rafah. Call.Fax. Email.Contact the White House. Keep an eye out for actions from organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, American Muslims for Palestine, BDS, and the Democratic Socialists of America, or whatever local organization is making efforts near you. If spending money brings you any comfort and you feel a need to put something into good practice, the Cartoonist Cooperative's page still lists a ton of resources for E-Sim cards.

But despite the many other things that should and do reasonably take up my time and brainspace--the good and the bad--it is my job to make comics and I do have to spend some time thinking about 'em and something I've been thinking about this week is the strange state of "evergreen titles."

A Perennial Should Standalone

In particular, I was inspired by seeing some random young person somewhere online say a fairly common refrain, something along the lines of "I tried Western superhero comics, couldn't see myself in them, other than one (now) 35-year-old Vertigo series, and found a lot more in manga for me."

This is one of those things I've talked around every part of in the past, I think. I've talked, fairly recently, about how it is strange to me when people cut themselves off from or don't give themselves the opportunity to continue to explore a format or genre of comics entirely as if they're homogenous and how I think that can make you lose out on some of the contextual history of the medium and how storytelling can work within it. I've talked about how manga is just another word for comics and how I think some of the separation of manga and "Western" comics is more artificial than people realize. I've talked about continuity and how it can be a real turn-off for people, but also how even when it does matter, it maybe kinda doesn't matter, and even earlier than that, I talked about how they say every comic is somebody's first comic and the strange balance of serialized storytelling and accessibility. And just last week, I was mentioning how I think N.K. Jemisen's Far Sector is a really great example of a modern "here's how cool superhero comics can be" book. Now I want to pull it all together and talk about how we've maybe canonized a lot of comics that require a higher bar of context than they're often given.

Now, last bit of business before we dive in, just in case, what do I mean when I say perennial or evergreen title? They are a little different, though I'm largely using them interchangably here. There are certain comics that have been canonized (not meaning made canon to a in-universe continuity, but the older definition of added to the historical register as a work of significance) that you can pretty much always find, and that has grown even more with the increased importance of the book market to comics sales. To use a very important example, you can walk into *most* any comic shop or bookstore that carries comics and is not specifically a specialty shop (like not Silver Sprocket probably, but also, shout out to them for joining the PACBI) and find a copy of Watchmen. Doesn't matter that the book is nearly 40 years old, it has been kept in print constantly (which... if you aren't familiar, is a story unto itself) and y'know, still sells. New people discover/buy/upgrade their copies of Watchmen every year and DC always points to it as an Essential title in their annual catalogs.

DC in particular is actually pretty good about promoting their evergreens. They release an annual catalog to comic shops (and some book stores) that's like a free 80-ish page thing about like "if you want to read DC comics, here are titles we recommend." And if you're even halfway immersed in American Superhero Comics, you could probably name a good half-dozen of them off the top of your head. Watchmen! The Killing Joke! Sandman! All-Star Superman! Batman: The Long Halloween! Batman: Hush! Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth! Kingdom Come! Dark Knight Returns! Other titles written 30-40 years ago by a White British person! Any title from the past 7 years written by a guy named Tom! Etc! I'm being a little flip, and generally, like a lot of those books, but it's true, those tend to be what gets platformed in that way. And, credit where it's due, I know the last catalog also included things like Far Sector and Wonder Woman Historia and Nubia: Real One and the Kami Garcia/Gabriel Picolo Teen Titans OGNs.

But what I find complicated about a lot of those decisions is that a lot of those books may be self-contained in that you can read a single volume or single series and get a pretty complete story without a lot of continuity fluff or cross-reading or whatever, but I think a lot of those books benefit from having existing grounding in reading superhero comics that can get lost when they're being presented not only outside the context of what they were originally in conversation with, but as books of high accessibility or jumping on points.

I could probably go on about most of these, but I'm going to use Killing Joke as an example because it's a really clear one. It's famously a "read this book" kinda book. I think it's still in the DC 25 Essential titles list. It's also a book that is STEEPED in important context that it usually isn't presented with and that I think does really change the reading experience.

Like, when Killing Joke was originally released, it was part of a big push of the Joker at DC. In early 1988, Killing Joke comes out, followed a few months later by A Death in the Family (the one where he killed Jason Todd Robin) and the year capped off with a Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told collection that didn't include either of those stories because, y'know, they were both too new. And modern collections (the 75th and 80th, respectively) both include, interestingly, 1 issue each of A Death in the Family (and different ones at that) and only an excerpt of Killing Joke because they usually don't like to collect it because it can take up a lot of pages for a book that most people own as an individual volume (though... interestingly, the 80th does include Mad Love). Sorry, getting a little distracted. But you know what the Greatest Joker Stories does include? A comic from 1966 that came in a box of PopTarts. Pre-'88, he had gone through cycles of being serious, silly (not even connected to Batman '66, the Joker's many boners story was from the early '50s!), and serious again when he returned in the '70s, but it was never to the extent that Killing Joke went to and that was solidified by the next year of publishing. And, even then, the next year brought some very different Jokers: Jack Nicholson's live-action version who is very much not the Killing Joke Joker and the Joker of Arkham Asylum, who again, is also violent, but in a very different way.

As you start looking at the long-tail, you see the Killing Joke interpretation more in the Batman: The Animated Series version of the character (though, obviously, toned down somewhat for the audience) and that continues to resonate through each version of Joker that happens after across media (except maybe Batman: The Brave and the Bold, because that series is so Silver Age-y). You get Oracle going from a somewhat unexpected character in Suicide Squad to being a major part of the Bat-family and really evolving as a character as Birds of Prey took flight in the late '90s (pin in that for a sec). There are stories that directly reference it, like that Booster Gold issue where he keeps trying (and failing) to change the past because Rip Hunter (almost wrote Rip Torn, who would've made for a very different Booster Gold book) lied to him. There are whole projects that are inspired by it, like the One Bad Day books from 2022/23. There are real world effects, like the things I mentioned earlier with it becoming an evergreen title and one of the first big DC tentpoles to have as a constant at comic shops and in bookstores (especially as the book market has become increasingly important).

Looking at the sort of joint in continuity and publishing history leading up to Killing Joke, it's important to know that Joker and Barbara Gordon had been sort of in-and-out of the comics. Joker hadn't had a major break in a while--also an influential factor on Killing Joke, another darker '80s Joker was in Dark Knight Returns just a couple years prior. But he had been a character who kinda disappeared out of the comics in the past--I think before his return in Batman #251 in '71, he had not been in a comic in like 4 years. And, speaking of not being in comics in 4 years, Barbara Gordon had largely retired as Batgirl before Crisis on Infinite Earths in '85 and was basically a non-character in DC comics post Crisis until Killing Joke. It's part of why the story got approved with her in it and part of why she got taken over to Suicide Squad afterwards... there weren't any plans for Batgirl otherwise.

And all of that is before we're even talking about stuff like the fact that it was recolored and the recoloring really changes the reading experience (TBH, I am not a fan) or that it's a book that if you are recommending it to someone, you should tell them that it's a book with a heavy trigger warning for sexual assault. It's not talking about it as an Alan Moore project and his publicly bad relationship with DC/Warner (see, among other things, that earlier Watchmen article).

So many of these books have that sort of important contextual elements that change the way they're read. I think it's important to know that Sandman is a DC universe book and at least something about some of the DC characters who get featured (like Prez, Element Woman, and Dr. Destiny). All-Star Superman is in conversation with Superman comics of the Golden and Silver age and I think in particular dialogue with Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow (and, hey, again, probably helpful to know that Grant and Alan have their issues).

How to Contextualize, Or Find New Evergreens

Okay, brief note: Becca and I went and saw Madame Web and this was left unfinished when we did. Madame Web was great. It was genuinely bad. It was the Cats (2019) of superhero movies. I've never seen a movie where literally all the content was in the trailer and the rest of the movie was deleted scenes. Anyway, after it was over, we went to the Barnes & Noble next to the theater and listened to this couple talking in the comics section and literally every book they gravitated to was one of these sorts of evergreen titles--Sandman was mentioned, Watchmen and Before Watchmen, V for Vendetta, etc. It was clear they weren't really readers, they seemed to be shopping for someone else, but that their primary frame of reference was TV shows and movies, which also goes to the whole "what makes it evergreen" argument and is really interesting because through adaptation, some of the importance of how these things work in the comics medium is lost. And by the end of it... I think they just didn't pick up a comic. Anyway, was just kinda funny to have a real world example of this exact phenomenon I'm talking about happen mid-blog.

Only other thing I want to say before getting any further. Obviously, I've focused a lot on DC titles. The reason is DC makes it easy. Like I said, they literally put out a catalog with their "here's what we think is most essential from our library" every year. DC's also got a long track record of these types of titles to examine and particularly because the initial comment led me to think it was more about American Superhero Comics, it was a clear focus. Every comic company does have their evergreen titles and I think evergreens are a good thing! When positioned properly, they are supposed to be new reader friendly and a great way to get into the medium. I'll talk a bit about Marvel in this section, but I'd also like to acknowledge that one really smart move that Image made (not entirely sure if they're still doing this, but props where it's due) is they made the first volume of multi-volume series--particularly the ones that seemed ripe for perennial status like Saga--$10. I think making these titles at an accessible price point is a good way to help prop up the things that can help secure a love of the medium and drive further visits to comic shops and bookstores.

More generally, I think there are two things that would both be rad if they were to happen because I think they'd be really helpful for onboarding new readers. The first is I wish there were more international approaches that were like the partworks collections. If you're unfamiliar, there've been a few of them from the UK, including Marvel, DC (who started with Eaglemoss and actually got picked up by Hachette later on), Transformers, Star Trek, and Judge Dredd, wherein significant arcs were released periodically with connecting spine art so they looked really nice together on a shelf that featured additional material like introductions and contextual writings on the reason the arc is significant and the featured character(s) and the creators and really provided at least a starting point of context. The other kinda interesting thing is for the Hachette ones at least, they were released with two numbering systems: one by release of the partworks collection, one by (relative) release order of the original story relative to the other partworks releases. It's almost like when you used to buy an encyclopedia set and every however often the new volume would be ready and you'd have to buy that. I think that's a really cool approach to bringing comics backlist to new and lapsed readers and particularly with the contextualization element, gives you reason to understand why these stories are evergreen. It's exciting to look at partworks as almost a curated greatest hits collection.

The other thing, and again, I think this is already in progress with both what DC is doing generally with their Essentials catalog and specifically with a lot of the stuff in their middle grade and young adult OGN space (and to a lesser extent with Black Label) and with the more recent additions to the Hachette Partworks--is I think that the "canonical" books need to be updated. And, of course, I have a lot of thoughts on what should be on those lists. I've said it before, but Far Sector would certainly be on my list. As would Superman Smashes the Klan. Just to throw out a couple of others: Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, Batman: No Man's Land, Young Justice: Sins of Youth, New Frontier, GL/GA: Hard Travelin' Heroes, (when it's collected, the first arc of the current Birds of Prey series), no longer a big two series, but Astro City (honestly... any volume), Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt, X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga, Marvels, Shadow of the Batgirl, Wednesday Comics, Gen13: Meanwhile (hey, that collection slaps), Mr. Majestic (the '99 run), Starman: Hell and Back, uhh... can we just collect all the pages where the Legion of Superheroes wore outfits designed by kids and fans, and probably a lot of other dumb stuff. But besides being the books that I really like and feel like are deserving of a place in more readers minds, I think the important thing is that we expand from books that may've had a splash outside the medium's traditional haunts (be that in films & TV or literary circles) or that we as comics people recognize for their artistic merit or internal cultural significance to books that celebrate and capture how fun comics can be! Also... and I realize what my own list looks like as I say this, but... fewer comics by white guys, please.

And now, our regular features.

New Releases this week (2/14/24): None

New Releases next week (2/21/24): Godzilla Rivals: Mothra vs. MOGUERA (Editor - IDW, post-leaving)

Announcements: Happy Black History Month! This week, I want to spotlight writer/editor Joseph Illidge! He's one of those guys who has been everywhere--Milestone/DC, Valiant, Heavy Metal, Lion Forge, etc. He's got irons in a few fires right now, from Noir is the New Black to teasing a new Image project coming to doing more editorial work to doing some pretty good articles of his own on the current and historical state of the comics biz. Among his many editorial credits is one of the books I mentioned feeling like should be treated more as an evergreen title (though... given it's complexity and just how many titles it ran through, I do understand that it's a bit harder): Batman: No Man's Land. But he's on all the socials and always has something cool brewing, so throw him a follow!

Sorry that Patreon is still behind! I've sent in a help request and once it's all sorted, blogs will be going back up regularly! As mentioned above, we're getting ready for wedding and travel and expenses around all that, so please also check out my webstore, my Kofi, my eBay, and Becca's site for additional ways to support us and get a little something for yourself!

What I enjoyed this week: Nancy (Comic), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Baldur's Gate III (Video Game), Blank Check (Podcast), Solve This Murder (Podcast), The City We Became (Book), Blade Runner 2049 (Movie), Madame Web (Movie), Witch Watch (Manga), One Piece (Manga), Dandadan (Manga), Lore Olympus (Webcomic), Death to Smoochy (Movie), Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), and big thanks to everyone who has already given us a little something for the wedding!

Pic of the Week: Nadja made a new friend (?) and his name is Optimus Prime. But she HATES that Sonic.

#comics #stop kosa #free palestine #hands off rafah #eyes on rafah #batman no man’s land #killing joke #canonical comics #far sector #a lot of dc comics sorry #comic opinions #a cat that loves optimus and hates sonic

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upagainstthesunset · 2 months

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What is your favorite Metron design?

Hello! Very kind of you to send a Metron ask to me in my time of need (ie days i wish there was more Metron stuff.. this is most days) :3

Part of me thinks his design is lackluster and kind of weird that its often just one big solid color onesie. Sometimes people draw his outfit with little briefs, some with just a belt, others with no definition on the body aside from the design on the chest. But part of me also thinks its quite funny that he's got kind of a shitty costume. I like that because he would not care in the slightest. When i draw him it's usually without any extra designs on the body. But im fine w whatever in this area.

I prefer the royal blue color over the brighter blue he's sometimes seen in. But both are valid.

At time his hands have fingers sticking out, or the whole hand out. Sometimes its a glove looking thing. I suppose i dont really have a preference? I usually draw whole hand out. His look in Darkseid War and Rise of the New God had a lot of glowy effects including glowing finger tips. That was fun, but not what I'd consider the quintessential Metron look.

Speaking of relatively modern adaptations, there are many i Do Not like and ive made past meta posts about those. But of them is the design for Morrison's work where Metron is all silvery. I believe Morrison described it as "enamel". No. Why would he look like that?

I like the classic Kirby design from New Gods for the chest and the cowl. In Metron's most recent appearance in Batman/Superman Worlds Finest in December, he did not have any piping or designs on the cowl. And worst of all no eyebrow shapes! Incredibly cursed. Only way it could've been more terrible is if his ears were out, so thank god they werent.

As for the actual look of his body and face, i prefer a strong but lean design. The look in Pollack's New Gods run is TOO BIG. And the look in Starlin's Death of the New Gods is too gangly and thin. His face should have hard angles, thin lips, deep set blue eyes (NOT square irises), and he should have a defined nose. I think in my fic i described him as having a face that looks like it was made for frowning.

I know this was probably way more in depth than you were meaning, but to me its the combination of all these different aspects that makes up the definitive Metron design. And ive gotta say, the original did it best.

[ID: Cropped comic image of Metron in the Mobius chair facing the viewer with a stern but fairly neutral look on his face. His hands rest squarely on the chairs arms. The background is a black and white photocopy collage of shapes meant to look like planets. /END]

#kateanswers #metron #new gods #metronmeta #metron if i fits i sits #thank you for sending bc this brightened my day

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keef-a-corn · 1 year

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Ahem, not close to being an og on tumblr or DC so I may have some stupid points and/or may being doing this friggin wrong and I’m okay with that. Fairly certain I will be proven wrong one way or another, but I’m tryin’.

Now..

Got into DC not too long ago. This is what I have learnt so far (these are mainly Batman based because I’m yet to care about anyone else nearly as much as I care about Bats and I’m mainly focusing on the stuff I’ve encountered, not toxicity [because I haven’t encountered that yet]):

- Batman is awesome but his canon constantly clashes. It’s nicer for HCs but is also a pain when a bunch of people focus on one part.

- still very shocking but… people tend to be fairly okay when someone doesn’t read the comics or most of the comics, as long as they are at least familiar with references to the comics.

- the live-action movies are both really good and highly flawed all at once.

- there is a horrific amount of crossovers with Miraculous and Danny Phantom. Like fanfics made yesterday have these crossovers.

- You like a ship? Perfect! Here’s plenty of content in relation to that!

- my method from finding Transformers fanfics does not work.

- Not enough JL depress.

- still yet to see anyone mention how funny it is that parents allow their children to engage with majority of DC and JL content when they really shouldn’t.

-Batman can never be apart of young children content. Nothing targeted to someone below the age of 7 should be allowed to engage with Batman content. Considering how he became Batman, his morals, his motivations, his goals.

- majority agree that a good version of Batman is when cares about people and actually is a very good person but will never see himself as a good person, he’s not scary. He’s not mean. He actually cares about people. He’s just a damaged person.

- Autism and ADHD characters are canon and I love browsing all the proof that it’s canon.

- Alfred is best. (Also raised my standards for the British only for it to be destroyed by my stupid uncle.)

- want to ignore canon? M’kay!

- not enough ‘Bruce cut himself off from people for years, but did solely interact with Alfred, gradually he started mimicking Alfred’s accent, so when he finally interacts with people again he has a British accent.’ Come on.

- if you search up any negative, but angsty, trait and ‘Bruce Wayne’ on tumblr you’re going to get a whole bunch of content that’s either Bruce x reader or is batbros focused rather than Bruce focused.

- everything is either from 5 years ago or yesterday.

- not enough owl man and Batman interacting content. Where’s the fanfics where Owlman tries to join the JLA and the only one to question it is Bruce! Initially Owlman’s there to undermine Batman and drive him insane, but gradually their relationship develops and the original plan goes out the window in the wake of ‘protective brother’ mode?? It’s not even close to canon, but at this rate it doesn’t matter.

- fight scenes are cool, but do you know what’s cooler? Characters displaying proper friendships [while fighting]

- overworked and insomniac characters are central in fanfics when you least expect it, but if you ACTUALLY SEARCH IT UP YOU GET NOTHING!

Edit: completely forgot to mention

- still waiting for someone to mention that although Battison (I think [yet to watch it]) addresses the black makeup from around the eyes of Batman when he’s in the cowl, does it really matter? Because it’s not even supposed to be there because Batman’s eyes are supposed to be covered by the lenses built into the cowl.

- disappointed by the lack of high-heels in more modern content. They run around in heels in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and that’s how high my standards are. No heels? No point.

- pink kryptonite hehe

And finally

- learning big words and concepts thanks to everything. Honestly didn’t know what ABA was, or that it’s called a cowl!

#let’s pretend that my points are valid #honestly having a nice time here #bruce wayne #batfam #notes #actually surprised #only encounter stupid arguments when someone’s disputing it #I have PowerPoints ready incase I need to fight why I like Batman #it raised my standards #autistic Bruce wayne for life

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softgrungeprophet · 2 years

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i WILL say that while i think joe kelly is vastly more successful with the tongue-in-cheek quippiness than a lot of other writers who try to do constant banter, there are def still places where it falls flat, and i find it weird that he has the head nazi shithead (aka zemo lol) using Hip “Millennial/Gen Z” Slang (aka appropriated AAVE) considering the racial things at play there linguistically etc but at the same time it’s a choice that i can’t say isn’t potentially justified in this context, especially if you wanna talk about the greater trends of white power and the (mis)use of AAVE and vernaculars outside of the predominantly white “““standard”““ for english and of modern/young fascists and neo-nazis, cryptofash etc. using memes, coded language, and other “trends” including things lifted from black culture

but somehow i doubt that was uh. that thoroughly thought through. though i guess there’s an essay in there about either that OR about modern cape comic writers’ leaning on vocabulary they’ve picked up from younger audiences who’ve picked it up (often incorrectly) from black english

anyway, even if it was that thought through it still might not have necessarily been the right choice for this specific character... but i really don’t know, i don’t really read a lot of comics that heavily feature hydra—obviously. i’m a spider-man fan. i read street level shit.

anywhooo

as far as peter goes, even with the over-leaning on being Cool And Young, kelly (the writer) still manages to have an overall pretty solid grasp on peter’s personality imo; his anger, his being pretty fucking smart, and his being incredibly deliberate in everything he does—measuring out his anger, controlling himself, monitoring everything around him, thinking a thousand miles a minute, and running himself ragged for the sake of other people while also sometimes missing the big picture because of his focus on getting from point a to point b, so in that case i think kelly (the character) is a fairly effective foil to him in being better able to look at the big picture and detach herself in a way that pete is incapable of ...

if i can go on a tangent, since this is a comic made by two people who worked (albeit on separate arcs) on ANOTHER comic i can name—

sm/dp was, perhaps ironically? one of the first spidey comics i read, for better or for worse, but i think... much as i’m really not interested in spideypool itself (only once for about a month) or its fans for the most part, i do think that even in those comics, like, even pushing these two disparate characters together, kelly still had a solid grasp on peter in that the way he wrote peter in THOSE comics was STILL this way—still angry, vicious, analytical, shortsighted, etc. and capable of intense violence and yes lethality. and it’s funny because to be honest in those earlier arcs of that comic, it really feels like peter ... doesn’t really care about wade at all; i mean to me it generally seemed that he was extremely detached from him in a lot of ways and that while he ended up knowing a not totally insignificant amount about wade i don’t feel like it went the other way... and like, not just in a regular spidey secret identity way you know, like there are a lot of people who did not know peter’s identity and some who still don’t who he is still pretty close to even in the mask, and to me this didn’t feel like that? right? it’s not like a... early spidey + torch days you know? like to me it did read as if he were kind of holding DP at arm’s length for most of the stuff through the first arcs, before the author switches and stuff.

but uhhh i guess that’s not good shipping fodder lol

but for as much as it’s a series basically predicated on “how can we squeeze more money out of a subset of fandom we’re not profiting off of effectively?” i do think there are solid aspects of it that do show at least a pretty solid grasp on peter’s overall personality and demeanor and i think joe carries that into non-stop as well.

(can’t speak for wade, i haven’t bothered reading any DP comics, i don’t think they’re really my thing. I’m super picky about 4th wall breaking for one thing. and for another i’m just not suuuuper interested in them. shrug. i’m sure there are some good ones, i’ll probably never read em, such is life.)

ANYWAY

also the layouts and art in non-stop are stellar. hugely dynamic, bold, well paced and wonderfully composed etc. love to see a comic book that just LOOKS this good.

it does feel like bachalo may have been a little rushed or on a tight deadline at times, but it retains a slick sense of style overall and thankfully a lot less weird sexy framing for the female characters compared to his work in sm/dp

#peter looks a little young at times but i think that's really just the way bachalo draws tbh #he still draws a solid peter parker—pretty boy doesn't hurt. dark hair though i like. good nose.#a little scrawny sometimes but overall good #nadia rambles #nadia reads comics

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fancoloredglasses · 1 year

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The final fates of Dini-verse villains part 2: The Winning Edge (If ever there was a PSA about steroids...)

[All images are owned by DC Comics and WarnerMedia. I hope I’m too small-fry to sue...]

(All videos in this review are courtesy of The Night Beyond)

In my last review, I mentioned that 7 “modern” era villains has their final fates revealed in the era of Batman Beyond. I have thus far revealed 5. The sixth reveals the fate of the newest Batman villain on this list (debuting in the comics a year after Harley Quinn debuted in Batman: the Animated Series)...

Bane, a villain created specifically...

(Thanks to Screen Rant)

...to remove Batman (much like Doomsday was created to remove Superman) In the comics, he’s a brilliant tactician (which didn’t seem to carry over as much to the Dini-verse) who uses a super steroid known as Venom to temporarily enhance his already impressive strength.

If you would like to watch the episode, you can either do so on HBO Max, or watch it on Amazon Prime behind the paywall.

We open in a dark alley in Gotham, where the Jokerz line up by an ice cream truck...

...with a cool secret. However...

...there always has to be a party pooper. The Jokerz grab the hardware from the gun and start firing (they do know they’ll have to pay for those, right?) Batman makes short work of them as Gotham’s Finest show to do the mop-up.

I should note this is early in Terry’s career as Batman...

...so he’s not used to the late nights yet. His teacher notices and gives Terry a disk with a note for his mother (Really? Even when this episode first aired email was fairly common!)

After school, Dana takes Terry to watch the Big Game. No clue what the game is. Near as I can tell it’s Zero-Gee Lacrosse.

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Batman recognizes “Mason” as one of the athletes from the game earlier in the evening (who is also dating his friend Chelsea)

Speaking of the happy couple, Chelsea is worried Mason (who looks like Death Warmed Over) is using something called “slappers” (you don’t suppose she means those squares he was placing on himself that made his veins pop out, do you?) Mason brushes her off, so she storms away. Guess the honeymoon is over.

Then Mason’s teammates arrive with the cash they got for selling the stuff they stole last night...

...which he trades for slappers for him and his fellow players. His hands are trembling so much he has to slap one on just to get home.

Unfortunately for Mason, someone followed him and saw the whole thing.

That evening at Hamilton Hill High School (where Terry goes to school)...

...Batman pays a visit to the boys’ locker room, picking Mason’s locker open and finding his stash of Slappers. Next stop, the Batcave so Bruce can analyze them.

But before he can leave, he gets hit from behind!

You’d think the Coach would want to know why Gotham’s resident superhero is snooping around his locker room, but instead he wants to take on the Bat.

The fight is carried to the...Zero-Gee Lacrosse(?) arena where Batman makes short work of the Coach.

Afterward, Terry heads home later than normal, and his mother is worried, especially since the school told her about Terry sleeping in class. His brother Matt “helpfully” goes in Terry’s bag to get the disk (OK, I get that little brothers are jerks who want to see their sibling get in trouble. Hell, a few months after I moved from my mother’s custody to my father’s, my brother was STILL trying to get me in trouble with my mom! But Matt embraces “sibling rivalry” with almost sadistic glee!). When Terry grabs the bag back, it spills open, revealing...

...the slappers Batman took from Mason’s locker. Terry’s mom, of course, freaks. She grounds Terry except for school and working with Bruce Wayne. Matt is giddy that Terry’s in trouble!

Later at the Batcave...

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This episode is turning more and more into an Afterschool Special.

Meanwhile at Zero-Gee Lacrosse(?) practice...

...Mason looks worse than ever, and the Coach notices, sending him to the showers. His cohorts bitch at him about his stash of slappers going missing, but one of them “found” his parents’ cash cards so Mason can get more.

That night, Mason approaches his dealer’s car when...

The dealer high-tails it out of there, but not before Batman tosses a tracer on the car. Bruce tracks the vehicle.

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I know Bane was defeated at least once by damaging the device that feeds him Venom until it overloaded his body, so this is certainly plausible. Plus it shows the dangers of drugs by showing a guy ODing.

Anyway, Terry is out past curfew, so likely his career as Batman may be over (and Matt is likely doing a Victory Dance in his room)

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Hope you enjoyed the episode (even it it was a bit heavy-handed) I know Matt didn’t like the ending.

Six down. The final villain’s fate to be revealed next week...and it’s a chiller!

#DC comics #dini-verse #Batman Beyond #bane #say no to drugs #Fan Colored Glasses

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