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jimmys-zeppelin · 2 months

Text

moonbeam

ch. vii

table of contents

may 26, 1998

What was Jimmy buying?

The question plagued Sabrina for far longer than she wanted it to. It was stupid, really, but she couldn’t shake the thought from her mind. The egg on her frying pan sizzled as she thought on Jimmy’s buying habits. The white began to brown at the edges and the smell snapped Sabrina from her daze.

It was already noon and there would barely be enough time to eat her still-cooking egg before she’d have to leave. Then again, she wasn’t worried about coming in late. It wasn’t like she’d be reprimanded for her tardiness. Taking five extra minutes wouldn’t put her job in jeopardy.

“I’ll just have to hire you to take care of my clothing mishaps, then,” Jimmy’s voice echoed in her mind from earlier that morning.

“Stupid,” she chuckled quietly, taking the frying pan off the fire and shaking it onto the waiting plate beside the stove. She hadn’t bothered to sit at the table because if she got too comfortable, she knew she wouldn’t get up. So she leaned over the counter, her Coca-Cola fizzing quietly in front of her. Distantly, she heard a buzz.

Her phone was ringing.

"Ugh, not the time," Sabrina mumbled as she shoveled most of the egg into her mouth and crossed into the living room where her purse lay on the sofa.

She could feel the buzz and heard her unmistakable ringtone of The Spice Girls' "Never Give Up On The Good Times" and she anxiously hummed along as she shuffled through her bag.

Finally, her fingers gripped the tiny black Nokia device. "What the—"

Jimmy Page — mobile

ANSWER | DECLINE

Without a second thought, Sabrina clicked to answer the call, choosing to ignore the indiscernible sinking feeling in her chest that came with seeing his name on her screen.

“Hello?” she answered with a start. Perhaps she was too quick.

“Sabrina, hi. Erm, hello," he sounded as if he were correcting himself.

“Hi, Jimmy,” Sabrina said, going back to her egg and Coke. "Another fashion emergency?" she teased.

There was a short pause, then he laughed. The bubbly laugh that hit her ears forced a smile onto her face and a flutter in her heart. She didn't want to feel this way about him, but she couldn't help it. He was so much older and there was no way in hell she'd be ready to get into anything else with someone else so soon. Despite Shaun’s having obviously moved on with Sarah.

But the way Jimmy drew her in made Sabrina feel like a dazed cartoon character being led blindly by an enticing piece of meat. She wanted him. And she knew he shamelessly flirted with her. She loved it more than she cared to admit.

"No, no, I just, uh," he paused, trying to find the words, "Well, I felt bad that our conversation was interrupted earlier at Boots this morning."

"Oh!" Sabrina took a sip of her soda. She grabbed the half-empty can and put it back into the refrigerator for later. Her egg was a leftover piece of whites—arguably the most boring part of the egg. She tossed the rest of it as she thought up a response. "Well, I'm about to head out to work, but I have a few minutes to chat." As many minutes as you need, Jimmy....

"Have I got you at a bad time?"

"Not at all. I'm the only one who's keeping the alterations business going. It's nothing too serious if I'm late," Sabrina shrugged on a windbreaker. It began to drizzle when she'd come back from Boots and she was sure the weather had gotten worse in the meantime. "Hey, you weren't serious about paying me triple for my job, were you?"

"If you want to work for me I can guarantee it'd probably be better. You'd only have to put up with me," Jimmy chuckled, "Plus you'll get to travel with me....and other benefits."

The tone of benefits made Sabrina’s heart beat just that much faster. If there was one thing Jimmy did well, it was his ability to talk to women.

"Benefits?" she questioned, an allure to her voice.

"Yes, well," he chuckled again and sighed, "I know you don't have time to talk now. Next time I see you I'll bring out the contract."

"Oh, God," Sabrina laughed, stuffing her keys into her pocket. She'd begun to grab the last few items she needed before leaving her apartment. "Your other suits are ready, by the way." Changing the subject was the only way she could slip out of the confrontation of admitting anything to Jimmy that she’d regret later.

"Ah, yes, I nearly forgot....I'll come by to get them. Maybe tomorrow. Unless you do house calls and can drop them off for me,” Jimmy said, hopeful.

"Well, I'm not your assistant, Jimmy,” Sabrina retorted with a chuckle, tugging the building door closed and ensuring it was locked. She yanked her hood over her head as the rain began to dot her cheeks.

"Doesn't hurt to ask," he replied. She knew he was smiling. "What time do you get off work? If that's not a strange question to ask."

It was certainly a question to ask. Strange? She couldn't tell.

"Store closes at eight. Whenever we finish the closing duties I'll be out," she said, taking her tube card out from her back pocket in preparation to tap it at the turnstile. She stood to the side, though, for fear that if she tapped in, she'd lose any and all phone signal. "Are you planning on ambushing me?"

"Perhaps...." Jimmy teased. "Just curious, really."

"Hey listen, I have to go, but if you want to talk more you can call the store and help me pass the time by pretending you’re putting in another order or something.”

"It's alright, I'll let Clarence's have their best employee for another day. I have some things I've been putting off myself."

"Alright. Well, let's talk soon, hm?" Sabrina said, picking at the bit of loose skin at the edge of her nail. For the second time that day he was nearly sending her into cardiac arrest. If they didn't get off the phone soon, she'd quit her job and run to work for Jimmy Page at his (probably) big, fancy house.

"Absolutely, Sab. Be safe out there, love."

Her stomach did about four somersaults.

"Thanks, Jimmy...bye."

"Bye."

He didn't hang up, and Sabrina watched the time duration continue on to 5:10, 5:11, 5:12 until she hung up. Sabrina had never felt this way for someone she had known for so little time. And someone famous, no less. She was terrified.

☽

The late May rain poured down outside. Humidity fogged up Clarence's thin, glass door, the logo decal barely visible from where she stood inside.

It was 8:15 in the evening. Sabrina felt grungy and gross. She needed a shower more than anything and knew her hair was in need of a wash. She had the next day's opening shift in twelve hours, but she knew already that she wouldn't be getting nearly enough sleep to power her through to the next day.

Most of Clarence's staff had gone home for the day, citing the rain as their main reason for heading out early, but Sabrina and a few other stragglers remained.

Luckily, Conner had worked the morning shift that day. After he'd left her place, he'd taken the train right to work and said he'd head home afterwards. Sabrina knew she wouldn't see him when she came in, and she was beyond thankful. She hadn't been ready to face him quite yet after the events of the previous night had transpired.

They kissed, they touched, and when they were nearly headed to their final destination, a rotten feeling in Sabrina's gut had taken root. Conner was more than understanding and Sabrina was terribly embarrassed, but they both went to bed on good terms. Things would sort themselves out between them, but Sabrina wanted to avoid Conner for as long as she could until then.

Sabrina yanked the vacuum cord to a more clear path. Thinking on all this, she realized she had been clenching her jaw. Grinding her teeth wasn't new, but her subconscious did it without her mind taking notice. She needed to schedule with the dentist.

As she finished up the area she'd been working on, the bell over the door jingled, the hefty winds and white noise from the rain became louder.

"Sorry, we're closed! Come back tomorrow, please," Sabrina called out, beginning to follow the cord to the vacuum when a soaked pair of loafers came into her view. Jimmy's.

"I'm sorry, I just—" he was out of breath, like he'd been running, "I needed to come see you."

"What?" was her automated response. His perfect curls were flat against his forehead. His cigarette-tinged cologne mixed with rainwater. Rain drops rolled off his soft leather jacket and dripped onto the carpet with muffled thuds. Sabrina could hear her own breaths. The texture of the vacuum cord suddenly became obvious to her fingertips.

"Sabrina, I know it's a horrible time, I'm soaked, I'm a mess, the store's closed, but I," Jimmy could hardly get the words out. Sabrina knew what he was going to say. She was so starstruck she almost didn't want to hear him say it. "I haven't stopped thinking about you since the day we met."

"Jimmy—" Me, too.

"Let me take you to dinner. Friday at seven. I'll pick you up. We'll go someplace nice."

Sabrina stood stunned. No words left her, her jaw hung ajar, her eyes searching his for any sign of a lie.

"If you say no I—"

"No, yes. Yes. Let's. I—" she stopped herself. The nerves were starting to hit. "Me?" she asked.

"There's no one else here, Sab. You're...I barely know you but I haven't felt like this about anyone in a long, long time. One date. That's all I ask."

"I don't even know how old you are..." Sabrina chuckled.

Jimmy's gut jumped with his laugh. Sabrina felt her insides melt a little at the sight. "I'm fifty-four. If it's too much, I think I'll die."

"Twice my age," Sabrina said, a smile playing at the edge of her lips. Mum's gonna hate this, she thought to herself.

"Twenty-seven," Jimmy said. Sabrina nodded. "Alright."

"Alright?" Sabrina said.

"Yeah...." he took a breath, letting himself take a look around the tiny store. "Now that I'm here," he started.

"I'll go get your suits," Sabrina smiled. She locked the vacuum into a standing position and dropped the power cord to the floor. Their eyes met briefly, but the look he gave her was different that time. Just as she passed him, Jimmy took hold of her hand, a slight tug held her back.

“Don’t be long…” Jimmy trailed off. The start of a cheeky smile played on the edges of his lips. When their eyes met, his lips grazed her middle finger just above her knuckle. A rush of excitement coursed through her.

“Don’t worry,” Sabrina replied, her voice so soft it was nearly a whisper.

Once sequestered in the fitting area upstairs, Sabrina tried her best not to jump and squeal out loud like a teenage girl, but with varied success. She couldn't help the unmoving smile on her face and hoped Jimmy would stay downstairs until she could better contain her feelings. The soft footsteps behind her proved her wrong.

Jimmy couldn't help but smile either.

"Excuse me, sir, this area is for employees only," Sabrina said.

“I couldn’t stay away,” Jimmy replied dryly, a chuckle on the horizon.

“Yeah, yeah, I bet,” Sabrina chided, zipping up the suit bags after ensuring both were Jimmy's.

She didn’t know what it was, but Jimmy felt right. She didn't want to take this for granted. Not one bit.

There was a pause, then he spoke. “How are you getting home?" Jimmy asked, his fingers tracing down the length of her arm until he reached her fingertips. He toyed with them in his hand. Sabrina wished he'd take and kiss each one of her fingers.

"It's alright, Jimmy, I was going to just tube it," she shrugged.

"Nonsense," he said softly. "I'll give you a lift home. It’s pouring rain out there.”

She didn't want to fight. Plus, the more time she could spend with him, the better.

"Fine," she conceded. "I just have to finish up downstairs and we can go."

☽

Sabrina knocked her knees together anxiously. The radio played softly in the dark interior of Jimmy’s car. He wasn’t driving, as she quickly learned that he’d had his own driver—Giuseppe—who took him all over whenever he pleased. Hell of a job that must be, Sabrina thought, Driving around Jimmy Page on his personal ventures.

Giuseppe was Italian, as she could infer from his heavy accent. They spoke briefly, Sabrina introducing herself upon entering the vehicle. Silence quickly followed. She could feel Jimmy watching her from where he sat at his opposing seat.

The moment was officially awkward.

“Where are you planning on taking me for our night out?” Sabrina asked, shadows of raindrops on the back windshield obscuring Jimmy's face.

Jimmy smiled slightly, “Um, well, I’ll have to see for sure where I can get us in, but I’m thinking Italian food. I know someone who owns a nice restaurant in Central London."

"I love Italian."

She loved pasta. And meatballs. But genuine Italian food was something she wasn't quite familiar with.

"It's nice, not too fancy. I wouldn't imagine you'd be thrilled with anything too extravagant."

"Well, I enjoy some extravagance sometimes," Sabrina giggled, "But you're right. The more intimate, the better."

Giuseppe made the turn onto her block. Sabrina almost didn't want to leave. What would they possibly talk about? She could just sit staring at him until the car ran out of petrol, nary a word being traded between them, but the thought of Giuseppe sitting there....waiting....would be much too awkward.

"Yes, good," Jimmy said, reaching for Sabrina's hand where it rested on the seat close by. He kissed her ice cold knuckles again, and noticed how her hand trembled slightly. "You alright?"

"Perfect. I'm always cold. Also I may or may not have eaten since we spoke on the phone earlier. Just a bit hungry."

And not to mention the absolute ride the last hour was for her.

"Sabrina..." Jimmy trailed off with a laugh, like he wanted to lecture her, but knew it wouldn't get him anywhere. The car slowed to a stop outside Sabrina's building. Jimmy peered out at the brown brick apartment complex. "This it?"

"Yeah. It's quite shitty, honestly," she exhaled a laugh, looking over to the building along with Jimmy. It was home to her. More of a home than her home for the previous three years had been. After university, Sabrina and Shaun had gotten a place in Chelsea. It was nice, yes, but Sabrina always felt a detachment to the place. The building was too modern, tenants rude, and near constant fucking or fighting occurring on the other side of opposing flat walls.

Sabrina hadn't been near the building since moving out in January. It harbored horrible memories—especially towards the end of things. Staring down at the positive pregnancy test, rejecting Shaun's proposal of marriage on New Year's Day, the bump was only just beginning to peek through her form fitting dress...

She hadn't thought about those days in a long time.

Jimmy squeezed her hand.

"Let me walk you to your door," he said gently.

His face held a sincerity she realized that not many did. The words didn't come, so she nodded.

The usually short walk from the sidewalk to her door felt like it lasted miles. Sabrina fumbled with her keys, the rain wetted the metal pieces and soon there was a dark shadow covering the yellow-white light over the old door. She looked up, seeing the interior of Jimmy’s worn leather coat over her head, protecting her from the rain.

“Such a romantic,” she chuckled, finding the right key seconds later.

“I didn’t have a chance to grab an umbrella on my way out."

"If you thought about me a little less, you may have remembered."

"Maybe so," Jimmy sighed. Rain drops landed on his curls, the locks of hair rustling like leaves in the wind. Sabrina wondered if she should invite him upstairs; let him borrow an umbrella...give him an excuse to see her again, maybe kiss her this time. His lips pursed as she watched him. "What's that look for?"

"Sorry," a shot of adrenaline ran through her, "Got a little lost in my thoughts."

"Lost in my eyes, yeah?"

"Shut up," she nudged him with her foot. The door opened. If she looked up at him again, then the moment would end. She sighed.

Jimmy's foot tapped hers, drawing her attention up to him. The glint in his eye made her heart's presence in her chest obvious to her ears.

"I guess I should go..." Sabrina started.

"I'll see you on Friday night," he said, using his free hand to graze her cheek using the backs of his fingers.

Sabrina hummed in agreement, "Now you have my address."

"Right-o..."

She exhaled a laugh.

"Sabrina—" he started.

She reached for him, her fingers light on his cheek to steady him as she drew him in. His lips were soft—softer than she'd expected them to be. The moment was quick, but definitive.

Their eyes met long enough for Sabrina to see the smile creep up on Jimmy's face, then she hurried inside. There was a quiet "Bye," said through the rain falling around them as she started into the building. Jimmy lingered for a beat, a smile permanently etched onto his face. Then, he shrugged his leather jacket back over his shoulders and started back to the car. Upstairs, he saw the glow of a light switch on.

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#giggles mischievously #jimmy page #led zeppelin #fanfiction #fanfic #moonbeam #1998 #90s #rock and roll #classic rock #rock stars

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blueskittlesart · 1 year

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hi! im really curious about your thoughts on oot, i'm trying really hard to like it and i wanna see what you enjoy about it

Hi!!! I'm going to do my best to explain exactly why I like oot but there is a TON of ground to cover. i have already written a bit about the story and my thoughts on it in this document, but this is a much more in-depth analysis of the symbolism and implied narrative which i think may be more helpful to you if you're struggling to get into the story and gameplay!

oot is my favorite zelda game of all time and was what made me fall in love with the series, but I will concede that it shows its age, especially with the insane advancements that video games have made over the past 2 decades or so since its release. Try to remember when playing it that it came out in 1998, when a game with any sort of 3d graphics at all was still new and exciting. some of its gameplay is going to be a bit dated, unfortunately, and it's totally reasonable to dislike that aspect of it i think! If you really find yourself struggling with gameplay, i recommend zeldadungeon.net for dungeon walkthroughs. they have very concise and easy-to-follow walkthroughs for the entire game which make the gameplay MUCH smoother for first-time players! there's no shame in needing walkthrough help in these dungeons, ESPECIALLY some of the later ones which get notoriously convoluted and difficult. that being said, even if you use walkthroughs, I'd encourage you to still pay attention to the dungeon's designs and details as a lot of thought was put into these designs and I think they're still some of the strongest in the series! gameplay-wise I'd also say that there are a lot of little collectibles that will seem like they're way more important than they are to new players. you don't need the skulltulas (they get you a bigger wallet), you don't need to complete any trading sequences, you don't even REALLY need to go out of your way to collect any of the extra heart pieces, the game is perfectly beatable with just the hearts you'll get from dungeons. Knowing all these things going in will really streamline your gaming experience and make things easier for you if you're getting put off by the 90s-style game design.

As for what i really love about the series, it's the story. And i understand that if you're not someone who makes a habit of analyzing media to an obsessive degree, at first glance oot doesn't seem to have a lot of story. A simple fact of old game design is that more dialog and cutscenes meant more storage space was needed, and the biggest constraint in game design at the time was the limited amount of storage a disc or cartridge could hold. What this means is that storytelling in older games like oot takes a very different form than the cutscene and dialog-heavy storytelling that games tend to use nowadays. the storage restrictions on the game meant that a lot of oot's story had to be told implicitly, via details and worldbuilding and actions carried out by the player. I know this can make it difficult to grasp at first glance! that's why i love to analyze it and talk about it, because I want people to understand how rich and well-told oot's narrative actually is and i know that most people aren't as willing to put in the work as i am, lol. with that being said, this is where the spoilers are gonna start! i'm gonna recap and analyze most of oot's story here, so if you're not looking for spoilers scroll away now and experience the game for yourself!!

oot is at its roots a story about adults failing children. i will elaborate on this point a bit more later, but for now let's look at our opening segment. We are introduced to our link, the youngest link in the franchise, at nine years old. From the get-go, we as the player are told that link's hylian parents died in a conflict very shortly after he was born, leaving him in kokiri forest to be raised by the deku tree, among the kokiri.

The kokiri are a race of eternal children. what this means, essentially, is that we begin the story with a link wearing rose-tinted glasses. the kokiri live forever without aging or dying, and they never leave the forest. Link has grown up isolated and without any concept of aging or death. he has been told by the deku tree, his father-figure, that he IS a kokiri and therefore will never age or die. Despite this, link does have a crucial difference from the rest of the kokiri that even he is aware of--he has no fairy. If you talk to the kokiri in the initial kokiri forest segment of the game, many of them will talk down to you or make remarks about you finally getting a fairy, reminding the player that link knows SOMETHING is wrong with him, that he's different from the other kids somehow, but he's not yet been able to pinpoint what.

we come to our first dungeon segment, where the deku tree summons link and tells him that he's dying and that link must defeat a monster to save him. when the player completes this objective, the deku tree dies anyway, revealing that he knew all along he couldn't be saved and lied to link about it in order to get him to do the dungeon. with his dying breath, he tells link to leave the forest and find princess zelda. (worth noting that up until this point, link has been told that leaving the forest will KILL HIM.) this is the first major failure of an adult we see, and as the inciting incident of the game it sets the tone very nicely for the rest of the shitshow. The deku tree lies to link his entire life about who he is, and then spends his dying moments lying to link AGAIN, specifically in service of a greater plan to turn link into the savior of hyrule by sending him to help princess zelda. this point is crucial--the deku tree has clear-cut, understandable reasons behind acting the way he does. It would have been much easier on link to allow him to grow up isolated among the kokiri, and it removes a lot of the potential danger he would have faced as an orphan in hyrule in the aftermath of the war which killed his parents. (we will later see that hyrule is in no way a safe place for a child on their own.) Explaining all the magical-destiny lore to a nine year old had the potential to scare him away from the task ahead, as did admitting to him that there was no way to save the deku tree. But lying to him about it all still ultimately deeply hurt him. this is the stage upon which the rest of the game will build.

Link, freshly traumatized by the death of his tree dad, leaves kokiri forest. he goes to castle town and meets princess zelda, a girl no older than him. Princess zelda tells him that she fears for the safety of her kingdom, but that no one will listen to her when she tries to warn them of the danger. this is our second adult failing--the entire conflict around which this game centers could have been prevented if only any adult was willing to listen to zelda's concerns about ganondorf. But because she is a child she is dismissed over and over again until she finally turns to ANOTHER child for help. her plan for link involves him retrieving objects needed to open the gateway to the sacred realm within the temple of time, which i know sounds like a bunch of confusing lore shit but all you really need to understand is that there's a gateway to what is essentially godlike power inside this temple, and zelda wants link to open the gateway and claim the power before ganondorf can. link already has one of the 3 keys he needs--it was the reward for killing the deku tree beating the first dungeon in kokiri forest, and zelda takes this as proof enough that he will be able to find the other two.

in these first three dungeon segments, link is confined to his nine-year-old form. His sword is wooden and deals considerably less damage than it will later in the game, and in each of the dungeon segments there are reminders of the way being a child affects his autonomy in hyrule--the guard at the gates of death mountain won't let him pass, the zora princess berates him for not being enough of a man, several collectibles are clearly visible but impossible to reach with his current size & ability, etc etc. this section of the game is deliberately juxtaposed against the initial segment in kokiri forest, in which everything was built for someone of link's size and strength and no part of the map was unexplorable or all that challenging. What you're supposed to realize here is that being a kid in hyrule is HARD. you have very little autonomy and are constantly condescended to. One of the few hylian npcs your age, Malon, is a good example of this--in her mini-quest she vents to link about how her father can't see that his stablehand resents him and she's constantly having to look after him without being listened to. She is being given adult responsibilities (looking after her father & the animals on their farm) without adult social status. Her situation is a deliberate parallel to both link and zelda's, though during this 3-dungeon segment of the game it's not immediately clear yet just how much adult responsibility link is actually shouldering. in any case, this is our third example of adults failing children, and the theme begins to be echoed in the worldbuilding of hyrule during this stage as well.

now we come to the initial confrontation, the scene which alters the trajectory of the game and divides what i consider the first and second halves of the gameplay (although the second half is probably much longer lol). Link, having found all 3 keys to the sacred realm, returns to hyrule castle, only to find that ganondorf has attacked, forcing princess zelda to flee with her attendant. He catches one final glimpse of her where she throws him the final key needed to unlock the temple of time: the ocarina. although no words are exchanged between them, it's clear that she's asking link to carry out the rest of her plan on his own and claim the power sealed in the temple before ganondorf can. and so link goes to the temple of time and opens the gateway, but link is nine years old and so link doesn't notice that ganondorf, a trained thief, is following him. When he opens the temple, ganon siezes the power zelda was trying so hard to keep him from finding.

we then pan down to link again, but different. he's changed, he's older. notably, he isn't an adult. he is sixteen years old, physically, but mentally, for both link and the player, no time has passed at all. this is important to keep in mind for the rest of the game--no matter how link may look, he is mentally still nine years old. he wakes up to essentially a lecture from the world's biggest dickhead, the sage rauru. Rauru places the blame for ganondorf's rise to power squarely on link and zelda's shoulders, noting that if link hadn't opened the temple of time in the first place, ganondorf would have never been able to sieze power. he tells link that he placed him into a deep sleep for the past seven years because, at nine years old, he wasn't strong enough physically to take on ganondorf and win. But now, he says, link is old enough to be a real asset. it's time for link to defeat ganondorf.

Once again, we have a clear-cut case of adults failing children. Link and zelda took matters into their own hands BECAUSE of the adults in their lives. for link, it was the deku tree (HIS FATHER)'s dying wish that he help zelda. for zelda, her plan was a last resort after begging every adult in her life to see what was coming and being constantly ignored. now that what she predicted has come to pass, she and link take all the blame for it, for being kids in a difficult position doing the best they could with NO ADULT HELP WHATSOEVER. you can't place the fate of an entire kingdom on the shoulders of two nine year olds and expect it not to fall. but that's what hyrule's adult leaders did, and when the kingdom fell they let the nine-year olds take the blame for it. zelda hasn't been seen for years. she's either dead or in hiding out of shame for her mistake. meanwhile, Link has once again become a pawn in someone else's game. The sage rauru decides for him, without ever consulting him, that he can't be trusted to remain conscious for the seven years between gameplay segments. that he will be safer and happier to remain asleep. anyone who stops for a moment to consider what this might do to link's mental state would have not done this, but rauru sees link as a child, which in hyrule is synonymous with an object to be controlled, with no feelings of his own. he needs to be protected and hidden, regardless of what effect it has on him when he wakes up. nothing else matters as long as he can be kept alive and unharmed. this is a deliberate parallel to the way the deku tree treated link while under his care in kokiri forest--he doesn't need to know the truth, because it's easier and more convenient for everyone else if he doesn't. its effect on his mental state doesn't matter. what matters is that he is kept in a position which is convenient for the adults in his life. this is another reminder of the way in which being so young hurts link, and if I can diverge into real-world relevance for a second, it's an obvious metaphor for the way trauma steals one's childhood. Link was never allowed to grow up normally. he went from being a kid one day to an adult the next, with no time in between to figure anything out. his childhood, his coming-of-age, was stolen from him by greedy adults who needed him to be a pawn in their war.

the dungeons in the adult segment of the game can technically be completed in multiple different orders, but the usual order (and what i think is probably the way the narrative is intended to progress) is to get to the forest temple first, which requires you to reenter kokiri forest, all grown up. it's important to note that up until this point in your gameplay, link still has plausible deniability about his race. sure, he didn't die when he left the forest, but maybe that was a lie told to ALL kokiri. maybe he's still a kokiri and he won't grow up. but now he's got solid proof that he was lied to, and that the safe, beautiful sanctuary he's spent the majority of his life in was never actually meant to be his home. When you return to kokiri forest as an adult, you find that it's nothing like the safe-haven you remember. it's been overrun with monsters that are taller than you now, as an adult. This is a metaphor, obviously, for returning to someplace changed. link goes back to his home and it doesn't feel like his home anymore with all that he knows now. And if the monsters weren't enough, if link talks to the kokiri, cowering in their little kid-sized houses, not a single one of them recognizes him. they address him as an adult they've never met before. to them, it's been seven years, and they've never known a kid to grow into an adult before. but to link, it's been a few days at most, and inside he's still the little boy they knew.

the dungeons in this segment of the game are mostly straightforward training exercises to give link the necessary skills and assets he needs to fight ganondorf. I'll skip over most of them, but there are three things i DO want to highlight about this section of the game: malon, sheik, and the water temple.

Malon is introduced in the first half of the game as an example of another child with very little agency and power. Seven years later, if link visits her again, he will find the ranch in an even worse state, with the stablehand having taken over and kicked out malon's father. Malon stays purely out of fear of what will happen to her horses if she leaves them in his hands. She is an adult now, as you are, and yet she has even less power than before. So much of the first half of oot is framed in such a way that the player wishes link was older. It wants you to think, wouldn't this whole thing be easier if I was an adult? Wouldn't I have more power, more agency? but now that you ARE an adult, you're confronted with the fact that nothing has changed. you are still a pawn in a war against ganondorf. Malon is still trapped at the ranch, forced to endure daily abuse or leave her animal friends to die. however, this segment is also the first time you as the player are given the option to fight back. If you, as a child, have taken the necessary steps to befriend malon and epona, one of her horses, you are able to use the bonds you forged in childhood to run the stablehand off the ranch and return power to malon. this mini-arc with malon is a teaser for the overarching arc of the game--having no power in childhood, believing that adulthood will be your savior, but finding the same powerlessness in adulthood, and ultimately returning to pieces of your childhood in order to finally reclaim your power.

next up is sheik, who is deliberately a mystery for the majority of this segment, but. well. we all know he's zelda, so i'm not going to beat around the bush. Sheik is what has become of zelda in the years since ganondorf took power--where zelda was once strong-willed and refused to stand down in the face of danger, sheik now moves among the shadows, darting in to offer link a bit of help or advice but never getting too close. My reading of this is that zelda, after growing up in the aftermath of her failed plan, was afraid of what she'd done to link. She saw her influence as the thing that brought hyrule to ruin--after all, link never would have opened the door in the temple of time if not for her. The way she sees it, her choice to use him back when they were nine destroyed his life and her kingdom. This is why she's largely absent in this segment of the game, only stepping in for brief moments and disappearing the second link tries to reach out for her. Her character at this point is essentially representative of self-isolation as a coping mechanism.

finally the water temple, which I promise i didn't single out just because it sucks, but i will warn any potential players that it sucks. it's the most convoluted ass design in the world and even with a walkthrough it gets confusing and hard to navigate at times. this is not the point of this paragraph, though. the point of this paragraph is that there is a miniboss in this dungeon that is INCREDIBLY important to link's character and to this day is one of the most well-done and impactful battles i've ever had the pleasure of playing. (side note, why the hell did the himekawa manga make this battle happen at the bottom of the fucking well?? ive believed for years that he was a shadow temple boss because of that. whatever. anyways)

about halfway through this dungeon, you come upon a room that looks like an endless sea of water, with bits of ruins and a single rotting tree in the middle. when you walk into the room, you'll be attacked by a mini-boss that takes the form of link's reflection, black and translucent with glowing red eyes. the miniboss dark link will mimic your attacks and block when you swing, requiring players to be crafty and strategic in order to beat him instead of just swinging with the right weapon at the right time. from a purely gameplay-based standpoint, this fight is sick as hell. it rewards you for thinking on your feet and forces you to come up with real time strategy to beat a foe who genuinely seems to think the same way you do, which is REALLY cool, especially for a game released in nineteen fucking ninety eight. narratively, though, there are symbols upon symbols upon symbols to be picked apart in this fight alone. there's the obvious metaphor of fighting onesself--representative of an internal struggle of some kind. pair that with the set dressing for this arena and the information we already know about link, and things start to fall into place. Link was raised in a lush forest, surrounded on all sides by walls of trees that kept him safe and isolated from the world at large. the minute he left that forest, bits and pieces of his worldview started to fall apart--he learned his identity as a kokiri was a lie, experienced the hardships of being a child in hyrule, and now he's grown up and become a pawn in the fight against ganondorf, losing what little agency he had along with the ability to return to his home in kokiri forest. He finds himself in this illusion room, with a shadow version of himself waiting to attack him, clearly indicating that this room is representative of his state of mind. an endless, desolate landscape stretching out into infinity. no walls to keep him safe, no cover at all save for that one single, ROTTING TREE in the middle. This tree is a symbol of link's mental state. (my evidence for this one spans across a couple games but just trust me when i say this interpretation is grounded in reality it would just take too long to explain) and the tree is not looking good. it is dying. and from this dying tree springs a reflection of himself that link must fight to progress. I think there's an obvious message that's being conveyed here: link regrets leaving kokiri forest. he regrets the way he's been used, the hard truths he has had to learn about the world since he left. He is still mentally nine years old, and as a child he still yearns to return to that safety he was promised in kokiri forest despite knowing that it's no longer there for him to return to. Dark link is representative of all link's fear and regret and turmoil surrounding his destiny and what has been done to him over the last seven years. Because this is a video game, he is able to physically fight those feelings, to defeat the reflection of himself that torments him and walk out of that room at peace, having faced his fears and confronted his true feelings. Narratively, this battle is representative of the ongoing internal struggle link is grappling with over the course of this segment of gameplay, and shows the player how link must overcome those feelings of fear and inadequacy in order to gain the power to defeat ganon.

now we finally come to the ending segment of the game. this is where the lore gets a little bit convoluted and trips some people up. if you're not a lore slave you can basically ignore the triforce thing. the only affect it has on the narrative is that it gives ganondorf a reason to need both link and zelda, since they have the other two pieces of the powerful relic he's after. this is why he kidnaps zelda and taunts link to come rescue her instead of just like. hunting them both for sport in the wilds of hyrule.

the final battle with ganon is the culmination of all your efforts throughout the game. in the leadup to it, the final dungeon reminds you of this by having each of its rooms be a mini-version of one of the previous six temples you completed in the second half of the game. once you finish this final dungeon, you're able to get into the castle. I have to mention one of my favorite design choices in this whole game here, which is the fact that the background music in the castle gets louder the closer you get to the final room, and when you finally get there it's revealed that ganondorf was playing it the whole time. the details in this game make me crazy they're all so well-done. anyways. to discuss this battle we first need to discuss a crucial character who i realize i've forgotten to mention this ENTIRE time somehow: navi.

I love navi. i hate the way she became a joke among fans. this is not the point of this post. the point is that narratively, navi is one of the only GOOD adult figures we see in the entire game. (one could argue that she isn't an adult, but she takes on a guiding and mentor-like role for link so i consider her one despite some of her more childish mannerisms.) Navi is the one character who has been at link's side since the very beginning, the only consistent good influence on his life. the only adult mentor who hasn't somehow tried to fuck him over or manipulate him somehow. She is INTEGRAL to his survival through all the crazy bullshit he gets caught up in. the game makes her importance clear to the player in two ways: the first, obviously, is that she's the tutorial character--she tells you where to go, what to do, explains mechanics and puzzles, etc. The second, and the detail that's gonna be super important in our discussion of the final battle, is that she's tied to the game's targeting mechanic. It's subtle enough that I actually didn't notice it my first time around UNTIL this final battle, but every time you target an enemy to attack them (which with the way the camera movement is designed in this game is basically a required element of combat) navi flies to their weak spot and hovers there, which is the in-game explanation for what targeting is--navi is showing link the monsters' weak spots. in the first phase of the final battle with ganondorf, he erects a forcefield which prevents navi from entering the battlefield, removing the player's ability to target completely.

i absolutely LOVE this battle in terms of both gameplay and narrative. removing the targeting mechanic is a genuine handicap that makes the battle genuinely difficult for the player, and narratively it serves to remind you of the importance of navi, a positive adult influence, in link's life. without her, dealing damage is so much more difficult, but as soon as you have her back the battle becomes super intuitive and you're able to strategize much more effectively. Eventually, you deal enough damage to get navi back and flee the castle with the princess, before making one final stand against Ganon, a mutated beast-form of ganondorf. with navi by your side, his massive weakness becomes easily targetable, and you're able to defeat and seal him for good.

the end-credits scene of the game shows link time-traveling back to his nine-year-old self, before any of the events of the game have come to pass, and re-entering hyrule castle to warn nine-year-old zelda about what is to come. this is a time paradox, i know, but i LOVE this ending thematically. As I mentioned extensively earlier, link and zelda's stories are both representative of the way trauma robs you of childhood. they were both stripped of their chance to be children and grow up and come of age due to what happened with ganondorf. Allowing link to go back and prevent those events from ever occurring is a promise of healing. it's a promise that he and zelda will be able to reclaim the childhoods that were stolen from them by war and by adults who wanted to use them as pawns in it. it's a reclamation of the agency that these characters have been consistently denied throughout their stories. it's. a good ending. it's a really good ending. I like it a lot.

So uhhh wow that was a lot! what it comes down to is that i think oot is a story a ton of people can relate to. being a kid with responsibility but no agency and longing to be an adult, but then growing up and wanting nothing more than to return to the childhood you lost... that's something that really resonates with me, at least. and yeah oot has a lot of quirks and convoluted story and stuff but at its core it's a really beautiful coming-of-age that deals REALLY well with trauma and childhood and growing up!! tldr it's just. a genuinely incredible story and it means a LOT to me lol

#THIS IS SO LONG IM SO SORRY IM CRAZY LMAOOOO #zelda analysis #everyone please play ocarina of time. im going insane here

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tiaramania · 10 months

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Tamara Falco's Wedding Tiara

Tamara Falcó Preysler, the 6th Marchioness of Griñón, is marrying Íñigo Onieva Molas tomorrow at Palacio de el Rincón in Madrid and she helpfully already told us which of her family's tiaras she is going to wear! Thanks to @duchess-of-lara for telling me about it because I didn't even realize the wedding was back on after the couple broke up last year. Tamara is a Spanish socialite and TV presenter notable for being the daughter of Isabel Preysler and the sister of Enrique Iglesias.

Tamara has chosen to wear the Montellano Diamond Tiara that was made in the 1920s for her grandmother, Hilda Fernández de Córdoba y Mariátegui, 12th Marchioness of Mirabel, 3rd Countess of Santa Isabel, 10th Countess of Berantevilla, who was married to Manuel Falcó y Escandón, 9th Duke of Montellano, 11th Marquess of Castel-Moncayo, 9th Marquess of Pons, so there's a lot of titles in the family and I don't even think that's all of them. In my opinion, Spain has the best system when it comes to noble titles because they have equal primogeniture meaning women can inherit in their own right and are not skipped over for their younger brothers. Also, if you have more than one you can cede the lesser titles to your younger children so Tamara is the third child of her father but he left her the Griñón title because there were other titles that his older two children were inheriting.

María del Rocío Falcó y Fernández de Córdoba, Countess of Berantevilla, wore the tiara for her debut ball in 1950. Her mother, Hilda, who was the original owner of the diamond tiara, is wearing the Turquoise Bowknot Tiara that was made by Chaumet in 1891 for her own mother-in-law, Carlota Maximiliana de Escandón y Barrón. The top of the tiara has been altered since then and I'm not sure which member of the family owns it now but they loan it out for exhibitions sometimes.

Jannine Girod del Avellanal wore the tiara at her wedding to Carlos Falcó y Fernández de Córdova, 12th Marquess of Castel-Moncayo, 5th Marquess of Griñón, in 1966.

Carla Pía Falcó y Medina, 10th Duchess of Montellano, wore the tiara at her wedding to Jaime Matossian y Osorio in 1981. Carla also appears to own the Wild Rose Tiara made by Chaumet in 1922 but I don't know if it has a longer history in the Falcó family.

Amparo Corsini Montero wore the tiara at her wedding to Manuel Falcó y Girod, 13th Marquess of Castel-Moncayo, in 1999. Manuel is Tamara's brother and the current owner of the diamond tiara.

There's also the Montellano Pearl & Diamond that was worn by Tamara's sister, Alejandra Falcó y Girod, 13th Marchioness of Mirabel, at her wedding to Jaime de Carvajal y Hoyos, 17th Marquess of Almodóvar del Río, in 1998 and was worn last year by Isabelle Junot at her wedding to Álvaro Falcó Chávarri, 4th Marquess of Cubas. I think the diamond tiara is the right choice. It has a long history in the family and looks like it would be the easiest to wear.

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buckybarnesss · 2 months

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If Cora was Stiles' age, wouldn't she have been in his grade before the fire? He knew of Derek and the Hale family but it just seems like Cora was written in last minute.

on this episode of heather versus the teen wolf timeline: cora hale.

here is what the timeline establishes:

all of season 1-3B takes place in 2011.

the hale fire was six years prior to the start of wolf moon. stiles is speaking hyperbolically when he says it was 10 years ago. we know it was six from what derek tells scott in magic bullet.

derek: six years ago, my sister and I were at school, and our house caught fire.

it's established that cora was 11 at the time of the hale fire in 2005. this comes from frayed during her and peter's conversation.

cora: you've known me for seventeen years! peter: i knew you for eleven, leaving the last six unaccounted for. and i'm not particularly fond of things unaccounted.

she's 17 in visionary.

visionary takes place during the fall 2011 semester of the main pack's junior year.

in comparison to the others:

allison turned 17 in the tell which takes place at the end of january 2011. allison says she was held back due to all the moving around. she's the oldest in their cohort.

lydia turned 17 on march 19th in party guessed during season 2 on the worm moon. we know it was her 17th birthday due to the conversation lydia and natalie have about lorraine's ashes in time of death in season 4 which takes place during the spring semester 2012 of lydia's junior year.

natalie: because she wanted you to do it... when you turned eighteen. don't ask me why. but, since there's only a few weeks 'til that, i suppose now is as good a time as any.

stiles would've turned 17 in april according to his official birthday of april 8th.

scott didn't turn 17 until september as is official birthday is september 16th.

malia turned 17 on november 28th making her the youngest of their cohort.

other odds and ends:

theo was in the fourth grade with stiles and scott making him their age. his birthdate is incorrectly listed as 1998.

jackson was born june 5th so he turned 17 between seasons 2 and 3A.

malia was 9 years old at the time of the car accident that killed her mother and sister which puts it in 2003. 2 years before the hale fire.

now while we can acknowledge the real reasons why cora's timeline is so shaky is because they winged a lot of it but what's the fun in that? here on buckybarness dot tumblr dot com we do teen wolf academia.

now one does wonder how scott, stiles, lydia and isaac didn't know cora but there could be viable reasons for that.

i discovered that the law changed in california in 2000 to raise the kindergarten enrollment age to 5 years old by september 1st. prior to this if a child turned 5 on or before december 2nd they could enroll.

they all would've started kindergarten in 1999.

this might be why scott and malia are in the same school year as lydia and stiles rather than being in the year behind.

if they'd had the foresight they should've had allison turn 18 in season 1 and have her a legitimate full year older than the rest because like she's only 3 months older than lydia so it seems a bit odd she's so embarrassed by turning 17 when she has a birthday so close to lydia and stiles. for someone turning 18 and being a sophomore due to being held back? that'd be embarrassing to someone in the american school system.

now cora could've been born in late 1993 to early-mid 1994. she could've been a grade ahead if she was closer in age to allison than to scott. i do strongly suspect that talia and corrine had overlapping pregnancies and being pregnant at the time is one of the reasons talia coerced corrine into keeping her pregnancy with malia.

the tates could've had malia start school later than the rest because she would've been 4 at the start of the year rather than 5 even if the law at the time allowed it. she just joined the rest as juniors when she returned to society because it made sense to keep her with the friends she'd made and she was 17.

if cora was in the grade above she could've been in middle school while the others were still in elementary school or maybe both malia and cora attended different schools due to zoning.

maybe they were homeschooled.

we'll never really know but it's interesting to think about.

#my blog #thoughts on teen wolf #teen wolf #cora hale #heather versus the teen wolf timeline #i do think jeff had the concept of a surviving hale and it just ended up being cora #the refinement of the character was lacking and than she was gone

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jamesunderwater · 9 months

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Tidbits:

you can call me james or jamie. transmasc autistic ace/arospec writer. lover of books magic music boobs and boys.

multi-fandom blog run by a multi-shipper. my main fandoms are: marauder's era harry potter, percy jackson, hbo's succession, bbc merlin, and stranger things

i do write and post smut, just as a content warning. minors be warned.

don't put up with transphobia/terf/transmed shit, racism, antisemitism, ableism, sexism, and the like.

itsjamespotter on ao3

**for anyone triggered by harry potter content, i try to tag all harry potter related posts with #hp, so you can block that tag**

Tumblr Fic Tags:

Jily

Prongsfoot

Dorlene

Smut

AO3 Highlighted Fics

Dead to Me [playlist] [tag] - 91,625 words - jily, angst, hurt/comfort

I saw a quote once that said: "How many times have I loved a thing, just because you loved it? Including me." This story is about love, but is not to be confused with a love story. It's about the love we should have had. The love we don't think we deserve. The crooked love we settle for. It is about how, in letting others love us, we learn to love ourselves.

Call and Response - 6,685 words - first war, hurt/comfort, minor jily

A series of vignettes showcasing how, despite his own personal tragedies, James Potter never fails to show up for the ones he loves – which might be his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. Set in a world where James and Lily never got together in school, the Marauders, now twenty, are fighting in the Order at the height of the war. Consider this my love letter to James “would have died rather than betray his friends,” “would have regarded it the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends,” “until the very end” Potter.

Bring Your Kid to Work Day(s Never End When Your Godfather is Sirius Black) - 2,012 words - good godfather sirius black

Written for Good Godfather Sirius Black Fest. Day 11, prompt: bring your kid to work day.

Promises to Keep - 1,142 words - dorlene; canon first war; angst

Marlene and Dorcas have run out of ways to say goodbye.

Just This Once - 6,196 words - jily, muggle au, gratuitous smut

When they were teenagers, James Potter promised his best friend, Sirius Black, that he would never, ever touch his sister. Lily Evans promised herself long ago that she would never, ever give into her feelings for her brother's best friend. But maybe…just this once?

Completed Fics August '23 - Present

Jily: Sweet Seventeen - oneshot - 792 words - canon school years, fluff

James is dating an older woman. She loves snow. He loves... well, it's too soon to say it.

Prongsfoot: here comes a thought - oneshot - 634 words - psychiatric unit AU

sirius is just one of those kids you can't fix. no one has ever thought otherwise. until james potter.

Jily: you are my heaven - oneshot - 1,815 words - soulmates AU, jily reincarnated

What, you thought all they got was a few years together? this is for anyone who has watched what dreams may come (1998) and it's a wonderful life (1946) and is also a pisces. 'cause you get it.

Jily: Happy Holiday, You Filthy Potters - oneshot - 6,098 words - fix it fic, jily never died AU, married smut

"jily christmas family fluff!" but with sex on the stairs.

Prongsfoot: "truth is i'm so damn in love with you i don't know what to do with myself" - oneshot - 804 words - canon first war, one bed

prongsfoot + near death experiences + trapped with only one bed + gay pining

Prongsfoot: "you have no idea how long i've been wanting to do that" - oneshot - 1,017 words - muggle AU, transmasc Sirius Black, bathroom smut

prongsfoot + a locked door public bathroom on my knees trying to make you scream vibe

Prongsfoot: not going anywhere - oneshot - 2,341 words - song fic, canon death, grief

when they were boys, james potter made sirius black a promise. and not even death can make james potter break his promises.

Prongsfoot: i don't even know where you end and i begin - oneshot - 482 words - first war, canon death, grief

Remember when we were such fools? And so convinced, and just too cool? I wish I could touch you again. I wish I could still call you, friend. I'd give anything.

Jily: Tall Dark and Glasses - oneshot - 3,292 words - coffee shop AU, fluff

Tall Dark and Glasses (or TDG as he is more affectionately known) is the mysterious, painfully good-looking stranger who has been frequenting Lily's favorite coffee shop for months now. But despite having an embarrassing acronym for him, Lily, a burned out STEM major, is too comfortable being a wallflower to go up to him herself. Thank god for playing cards, I guess.

Prongsfoot: I Only Breathe When You Breathe - oneshot - 643 words - first war, angst, hurt/comfort

Sirius and James and a nearly fatal order mission. Don't worry, it isn't gay at all.

#look i made actual banners!!!#my writing #intro post #pinned intro #prongsfoot #jily #dorlene #dead to me #a love letter to james potter #good godfather sirius black #james potter #lily evans #dorcas meadowes #marlene mckinnon #wolfstar #the marauders #me

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sineala · 9 months

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what are ur must read comics for tony ? i want to read more of him but idk where to start

Unfortunately, for Tony, unlike Steve, there isn't really a comic I can hand people and say "just read this if you want to start reading Iron Man comics and know where Tony came from and what Tony is like." (For Steve, this is Captain America: Man Out of Time.) There isn't a similar newbie-friendly retelling of Tony's origin story with modern art and a modern sensibility -- at least, not one that I would recommend, because Iron Man: Season One is… not set in 616 and is not a whole lot like like the events of canon.

(This took me very long to get around to, and in the meantime you might also like the more Tony-centric entries in my recent Steve/Tony comics recs post.)

So the answer to this question, I would say, depends on how familiar you are with comics in general, and specifically if you know you like reading older comics. Because comics nowadays are very different than older comics, and a lot of people who start reading comics now don't like the older comics when they try to go back to them. The art is different, and the style of narrative is different, and the pacing is different, and also the farther back you go the more likely you are to find something that is sexist and racist as fuck. Some of the early 60s stuff especially can be… not great. (Not that all modern comics are entirely free of this, but, like, I'd like to think that by now we've stopped publishing comics with literal yellowface.)

And the thing is that most of the classic, must-read storylines that I'd point to and be like "yeah, this is an important comic to read to understand Tony," well… they're all older comics.

But I'm recommending them anyway, and you can try a few to see if you like them. I'm putting the dividing point between old and new at the end of volume 1 (1996); some people will say that volume 3 (1998) is not modern enough for them, but I think the storytelling and pacing is modern enough that it should count.

Anyway, here's some volume 1 recs.

The classics:

Tales of Suspense #39: This is the first Iron Man comic. There are later retellings, but this is the original, so you might as well. He is wounded! He has to wear the chestplate forever in order to stay alive! I recommend one of the modern recolorings for, uh. Obvious reasons.

The Senate hearing arc (ToS #84): You should probably start a few issues before this, maybe around ToS #80, because the issues all just run into each other in one continuous storyline. If it turns out you like the extreme melodrama of ToS and you can handle the general Problematic nature of a lot of the plots (there will be more evil Communists than you can shake a hammer and sickle at), you can go back and read some of the other stuff, but this is the arc that is probably the most famous, because #84 is the issue where Tony testifies about the Iron Man technology at a Senate hearing and has a heart attack right there in the Senate.

Tony's first artificial heart (Iron Man #17-19): In case you're wondering when Tony stops having to wear the chestplate, it happens here, in an extremely bonkers arc where Tony makes an LMD of himself who promptly tries to replace him, meaning that Tony has to wander around sadly in the rain and jump his heart off a car battery. He is then kidnapped by people who think they are kidnapping the LMD to force him to do evil. This is actually Madame Masque. It all culminates in him suiting up in the Model 1 armor to fight the LMD in his newest armor, and the old armor doesn't have enough power to run the armor and his heart at the same time, so guess which one he picks. Anyway, he has a massive heart attack and gets an artificial heart implanted.

Demon in a Bottle (Iron Man #120-128): Skipping way way way ahead to the late 70s/early 80s, this is the arc that makes Tony an alcoholic, and it's a classic of the Layton/Michelinie run.

Doomquest (Iron Man #149-150): This is the arc that establishes Doctor Doom as a villain of Tony's, and features both of them time-traveling to Camelot. It's great. (Layton and Michelinie come back for a sequel in #249-250, and then a much later sequel to that in the miniseries Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, which is one of the absolute weirdest IM miniseries I have ever read and features Doom penetrating Tony with Excalibur.)

The second drinking arc (Iron Man #160-200): This is Denny O'Neil's run and it is, IMO, a much better storyline about Tony's alcoholism, and it is absolutely my favorite classic Iron Man storyline. But it also is definitely a comic from the 80s so you should decide if you're up for that kind of storytelling. This is the one where Tony starts drinking again and loses absolutely everything he has (his money, his friends, his home, being Iron Man) and lives on the streets and nearly dies, and then he works his way back up. This is also where Obadiah Stane comes from.

Armor Wars (Iron Man #225-232): Layton and Michelinie come back for a second run in the late 80s, and Armor Wars is pretty much universally agreed to be the highlight of their run. Tony starts stealing his technology back from villains using it for evil. Then he starts stealing it back from literally everyone, including the government, who is not real thrilled.

I realize there's like a hundred more issues of volume 1 but you can probably skip them. The early 90s were sure A Time for comics. Some of Len Kaminski's run has some good backstory, and if you read anything you will probably want to read #313, which is about Tony going to AA and talking about his childhood.

Then we've got the modern stuff. If you try the older stuff and bounce off the art style, I'd recommend Extremis, which most people find readable and has lovely art by Adi Granov, although admittedly I prefer Busiek's Iron Man run for its characterization of Tony.

You will note that there's about ten years here where I am only recommending miniseries and that's because I honestly don't believe there's been a really good Iron Man ongoing since the Knaufs left at the end of v4 and Duggan's current run. So that's, what, twelve years? It's been a long time since we've had good Iron Man comics.

(I will grudgingly additionally recommend Bendis & Maleev's International Iron Man, because I think it's a really good story about Tony searching for his biological parents, but you do NOT want to read any other storyline about Tony being adopted because the rest of them are… bad… and pretty much thoroughly establish that none of Tony's family, biological or adoptive, with the possible exception of Maria, ever cared about him in the slightest, so that's kind of a downer.)

Here are my slightly more recent picks:

Kurt Busiek's Iron Man run (Iron Man v3 #1-25): This is one of my favorite Iron Man runs and I would definitely recommend it as a starting point. Busiek's runs on Iron Man and Avengers (which he was also writing at this time) are basically love letters to The Way Comics Used To Be, so his Avengers run has the Avengers all living in the mansion and being friends (this is the last time they lived in the mansion), and his Iron Man run features Tony being a more updated version of the character he started out as, which is basically the fantasy of the ethical billionaire who sincerely wants to use all his money to do good in society and help people out. It's worth reading the first issue to see if you like it. I think it's really great. Also there's a lot of whump.

The rest of Iron Man v3: There are about 60 more issues of Iron Man in volume 3 after Busiek leaves the book, and they continue the same characterization even if not all of it is quite as good as Busiek. Highlights include the Sentient Armor arc (you have probably heard about the Sentient Armor), both DreamVision arcs (featuring Tiberius Stone), and even more whump with the arc Manhunt, in which Tony gets shot three times, poisoned, attacked with missiles, and then has to go fight the Mandarin, all while being on the run from the government because he's been framed for bombing an embassy and everyone hates him.

Extremis (Iron Man v4 #1-6): I would say that Extremis here is when Marvel really started to try to make Iron Man cool. This is a good jumping-on point for a few reasons -- it doesn't require you to know anything about anything, the art is pretty, and it recaps Tony's origin story in a way that will probably be a little more recognizable to MCU fans, plus Extremis would later be part of IM3. The thing about Extremis is that it actually gives Tony superpowers, which is either good or bad depending on how you feel about this; I will say that it's a massive departure from the way Tony has been written the entire rest of his existence, in that the fact that he is a regular human (occasionally with a lot of disabilities) is important to his storyline, and reading this as your very first Iron Man comic means you won't really be aware of how unusual this is for him.

The rest of Iron Man v4: This is kind of a conditional rec, as it really only makes sense to keep going in v4 if you're planning on reading Civil War, because the rest of v4 hinges on it. There's an arc that leads up to Civil War (Execute Program), then the Civil War tie-ins, then Director of SHIELD. DoS has some excellent angst for Tony, but it's also very much about him being the director of SHIELD -- he doesn't do his usual rich-person stuff. So if you want a run where he does the things you expect him to do, it's not that one.

Iron Man: Legacy: A miniseries consisting of two short arcs; for all that they're supposed to be set at specific points in canon, they're pretty readable and they've got some fun panels that you will often see reposted -- Tony on a winged horse with a lance, Tony falling right into a dumpster, an LMD of Tony dressed in a French maid outfit and painting Pepper's nails. It's cute.

Iron Age: Technically most of this takes place in the past but you don't need to know anything. Tony timetravels through his past and has some entertaining adventures with a bunch of random characters while trying to save the world which is ending and it's all his fault. Features a panel of Tony crying sadly in the rain and also him accidentally hitting on his past self.

Iron Man: Fatal Frontier: This one is so much fun. So much fun! This is a miniseries where Tony makes friends with a Soviet robot on the moon, becomes sheriff of the moon, plays all the parts in a heist, and defeats a villain by using hurt/comfort fanfic.

Any time Ryan North gets to write Tony: Ryan North studied computational linguistics and it shows. He's just really good at writing Tony as a great big nerd with a great big heart who always wants to do the right thing. I recommend all the Tony cameos in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, the issue of Marvel Comics Presents (#7) where Tony tries to punch the 2007 financial crisis, Darkhold Iron Man (if you like body horror; I can't read this), and the recent Secret Invasion miniseries.

Any time Jed MacKay gets to write Tony: He just really has a good read on Tony's attitude, and he's currently writing Avengers, where Tony is on the team; I'd also recommend his work on the Iron Man and Avengers 2021 (Infinite Destinies) annuals.

Gerry Duggan's current Iron Man run: This is literally the best Iron Man run I have read since I got into this fandom. He absolutely nails Tony's character AND he's done the reading, which means that my brain has been screaming AAAAAAAA nonstop since I read the last issue where Tony was heavily concussed and having several pages of flashbacks where he thinks he's still stuck in the blizzard from IM #182 and dying. AAAAAAAA.

Hope that helps!

#replies #zeirnpf

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angel-of-hunky-doryness · 19 days

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The Conflicts of Disney's Hercules (Part 3): Hades vs Zeus

Brother vs brother- talk about a tale as old as time, huh? From Cain and Abel to Hamlet and Claudius to the more modern examples of Mufasa and Scar to Thor and Loki, what's not to hate about about two brothers at odds with one another? Well technically its more of an angsty, brooding guy who's had it up to here with their perfect golden retriever brother getting the throne, daddy's attention, and/or the girl. While our bootiful no-thoughts head empty golden child becomes intimately aware at the last possible second of their brother's treachery as they're falling into your proverbial wildebeest stampede.

That's right y'all.

May I present to the surprise of no one.

THEM:

Finally we come to the conflict that sent the proverbial Sisyphean boulder into motion that is Disney's Hercules.

Part I: And now a word from our IV pound sponsor:

Before I begin my analysis on the relationship between Disney's Hades and Zeus, I thought I would provide a bit of background to the established canon Disney presents us. Mind you, dear reader, we have the 1997 film and the Hercules animated TV show (1998) to look towards. However, there are minor conflicting information between the two, but as always, the movie is always more canon than what the TV show gave us.

Zeus is older, Hades is younger. Weird I know.

But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and support Disney on this one. Because while in the grand scheme of things Hades is most definitely NOT the youngest child of the siblings in Greek Myth, there is a small technicality that cements Zeus' authority to rule over his older siblings as if Zeus was the firstborn child this whole time.

That technicality being: Kronos

Kronos gets the big bag prophecy/curse from Gaia that one of his children will overthrow him like he did with his dad, so Kronos starts baking his cake and eating it too.

Hades was the first male born (hestia is traditionally firstborn but patriarchy or whatevs) so that also made him the first to be swallowed by Kronos. Thus, when Zeus freed the rest of his siblings, Hades was the last son to be up-chucked since he was ingested first - that made Hades the last "born."

And this "second birth" of Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Hades, and Hestia is what cements the order of authority in the 6 siblings hierarchy. Therefore, Zeus was made firstborn and had full authority to claim the sky if he so desired.

But Zeus was a chad in those days and still gave his brothers a chance to draw lots and all that b/c even he saw how unfair the Fates had been to his brothers. Yet still, destiny favored Zeus and Mr. High and Mighty got the kingdom with a view.

Which is a perfect segway to the next set of rules I'm working with here:

2. Zeus is a good guy.

Okay, I know it hurts to accept this, buttercups, but we have to muscle through it. The version of Zeus that we got in Disney's Hercules is a sanitized, lovable goofball who loves his son, his wife (is that allowed?), and his brother who's going through a phase.

BTW I would like to draw attention to the fact this is the first time in an adaptation of greek myth where Hera is Hercules' bio mother. This is clearly outlining to the audience- hey! Zeus is faithful?

So Zeusy's worst flaw (infidelity, Don Juan, insatiable sexual appetite- pick your poison) has been erased. That's wild, but we have to accept this to better understand the context of Hades vs Zeus. We have to establish who has morality in this equation. Earlier parts of my Hercules Conflicts series had obvious good guys vs Hades, but for this one I have to build it up because of the history of these mythological figures.

However, before I roll into it, I would like to dig on Mr. Thunder Dunder Head once.

This man violated the Geneva Conventions doing this to Danny DeVito:

Talk about some Zeus ex machina- yeesh.

Part II: And Then Along Came Zeus

With the introduction out of the way, now we can talk about the central conflict that kickstarted this movie into gear.

From the get-go, Hades establishes that he doesn't reciprocate his brother's affection. What should've been a good ol' fashioned family reunion turned into a neon flashing sign that Hades is very uncomfy around his brother. Hell, even when Zeus is trying to be friendly he ends up ordering him around.

And I don't think anyone's mentioned this before, but doesn't it seem like Zeus is just as touchy-feely here as Hades is with those beneath them? It makes me wonder if Hades learned this behavior from Zeus.

Now, we also get the idea that Zeus is clueless. Not just to how Hades is purposefully keeping him at arm's length, but also to how the other party guests, the gods, get very quiet and passive aggressive the second Hades showed up to spoil the party.

And you better believe this three-minute scene is the basis for this entire post. And there is a lot to digest here.

First off, we get Hades' motivation, his goals, and the receipts. You better believe this babe is writing in his little black burn book as soon as he gets back in his chariot.

From Zeus, to Hercules, to the rest of the gods, home boy has a lot to update after popping in after a long time. And I hate to be that guy, but a show of hands on who felt more sympathetic for Hades here?

Like I've mentioned in Disney's Most Sympathetic villain post already, but Hades' villain entrance is not intimidating in the slightest. If anything, it quickly establishes that Hades is kind of a loser in these circles.

To recap, while on Mt Olympus for two minutes Hades is:

Manhandled by his older brother

Manhandled by his nephew (ok i get this one, he nearly hurt a baby, those are spikes after all)

Ignored. Nobody but Zeus makes eye contact/or acknowledges him. More than likely this is b/c they can't stand the guy and out of respect for Zeus they've elected to just ignore him and hope he goes away.

Zeus gaslights him - yes, the guy who gave him the underworld job is telling him to slow down and live a little. That's like your boss gives you a crap load of work and comes by to ask you why he never sees you take time off. I will die on this hill that's positively diabolical.

And lastly, Hades gets laughed off the mountain.

Not once in this entire film did Zeus ever check up on Hades after this. Not to apologize, not to make up for lost time, bring up an opportunity for a party you could come to, or perform a wellness check. That would've been so hilarious seeing Zeus pop into the underworld and the entire scene is just Hades shenanigans of trying to cover up evidence of his plot to murder this guy.

Although to be fair, Myth!Zeus had the same issue!

BUT to Myth!Zeus's credit, he made an attempt to improve his brooding brother's mood. And he did it in the worst way possible by immediately fixing him up with Persephone. So you really can't say that Myth!Zeus isn't trying.

Now since I've bashed Zeus I will give him some credit on his first scene. Hades isn't there to stay and chat, he's on a recon mission. And he evades all his brother's attempts at conversation. He cuts bolt boy off, uses humor as a defense mechanism, and he deflects every time Zeus tries to get cozy. Why?

Homeboy found out a new godling was born.

And the way the movie presents Baby Hercules- from Zeus being awkward and kind of scared to hold him- I get the vibes that the writers are making Zeus out to be a first time dad.

Yeah, apparently we're ignoring Athena, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Bacchus, Hermes, Hephaestus, etc

Wild I know, but there is a purpose to it.

@persephoneflowerpetals made a very interesting blog post about this particular aspect that deserves a look and got me to thinking.

So not to steal their thunder, but Hades showing up to Hercules' Amphidromia (ancient greek family festival where newborn babies are given their name in front of their family & friends on 5th or 7th day of life) was for him to see who his competition was - whether or not Hercules sided with Zeus or not when Hades' own uprising happens.

And by not siding with Zeus, I'm talking about Hercules having his own type of uprising and usurping his father as all the previous kings had done before him.

Which is really cool! It's taking the Lion King/Hamlet story from a different angle. The nephew is just as much of a threat as his father if not more.

You see age doesn't really factor for Greek gods (Artemis was born minutes before her brother and she helped her mom deliver him & the food of the gods aged baby godlings quickly) so it's a very smart move for Hades to see what he was up against very quickly. Hell at this point in time he had no idea he just needed to wait 18 more years for his uprising.

And that's why Hades was more concerned about the sunspot than his own brother. It could very well be that he wouldn't be fighting Zeus, but Hercules for the ownership of the Olympian throne.

This puts Hercules on equal footing with Zeus in terms of level and power and establishes why Herc is the main protagonist- not Zeus.

Hell, if anything, Hades knows from experience that posterity can easily overtake the previous generation. He did that once despite the odds being stacked against him and his siblings even though Gospel Truth claims Zeus stopped the Titans on his own.

Part III: Olympus is That Way

The Titan Jail break will never not be funny to me. We see 5 giant Titans stomping around in the woods, the seas, the fields, cities, etc in what I am assuming is about sunrise?

You mean to tell me there wasn't a single person- or god, we have to remember there are gods in this universe that didn't want to- I don't know- let Zeus know what was coming? I mean it's not like Poseidon would know they were freed from their underwater prison, or Apollo as he's driving his chariot- it is a bit cloudy after all, or any others to notice their cities with mortals actively praying to them are under a massive attack.

Horses were killed, Poseidon. Your descendants. My sibling the horse girl is very disappointed in you.

Now I know this is touched upon in my series Hercules Conflicts Part II, but it does merit a mention since ultimately it is Zeus' fault / laziness that the Titans were able to show up on their front doorstep without anyone realizing until too late.

And Zeus is absolutely torn apart when he realizes it was his brooding baby brother who gave him the ol' Judas Kiss.

I couldn't find the gif of Zeus' realization face that maybe what his brother was going through was not just a phase. However, just like Mufasa before him, bolt boy realizes too late of his brother's treachery.

And what's the last line, Hades delivers to Zeus:

Oh?!

Is- is Hades bitter about the job Zeus gave him? Of being ordered around while the rest of the pantheon got to play around and have some fun?

Jokes aside, but Hades' whole plot, all his animosity and antagonism towards Zeus came because of the lot he was given by bolt boy over here. And while Hades does call Zeus his greatest rival it's because Zeus put him in that position in the first place.

Zeus created his worst enemy.

It's like one of my profs commented once in my classes back in my uni days. The oil spill that happened in the Gulf of Mexico didn't happen because of one mistake. It happened because of several mistakes, several oversights, several safety overrides for the sake of not losing money were made over a period of years that eventually lead to a disaster that no longer could be ignored.

And that is ultimately what became Zeus' fatal flaw in this movie.

His negligence.

We can blame the other gods for not being as committed as well, but it's like Hopper says in bug's life:

Zeus is at fault for his brother's betrayal, his son being turned mortal, and the mess the Titan's left in their wake.

So at the end of the movie when the Muses deliver another absolute banger, the system doesn't change. Things go back to the way they were just minus the one guy at the bottom most rung of the cosmos' ladder.

If change is to happen it starts at the top.

Not to end this on a downer- although we all know how screwed this world is after the credits roll, but I am happy to report, dear reader, that change does happen.

It's small, but it's still resounding.

Hercules chooses not to join his father. Just as Hades predicted in the opening scene if you go along with my theory from earlier in this post in Part II. And this wasn't even with the assistance of prophecy, it was because Hades knew his brother too well.

Zeus has a very exclusive club atop Olympus and he would never let someone like Meg, despite all that she's sacrificed and redeemed herself for. Because Meg is a representation of Hades here. Something I was very vocal about in Part 1 of my Hercules Conflicts Series.

And before you argue, remember, Zeus is the one who told Hercules that only gods can live on Olympus. Bolt boy knew Hercules was about to ask for a freebie for her, but his stance was made very clear on the matter.

So, Hercules refuses. Hades was proven to be correct.

Now, Hades just didn't know why Hercules would defect. And Hercules goes back to being a mortal because of Hades. Because Hades put Meg in the right place at the right time. Sure, it's because of Meg that Hades loses. But Hades got someone to realize Olympus isn't all its cracked up to be.

Through mortality.

The very aspect Hades himself represents as lord of the dead and god of the underworld.

Maybe Hades did win after all.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

Till next time, my dear readers

~Angel

#disney #disney hades #disney hercules #disney megara #disney villains #my rambles #greek mythology #greek myth #hercules #zeus #disney zeus #hades #disney persephone #disney movies #hercules 1997

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beevean · 29 days

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I think thats my problem with Frontiers, yes it's an improvement over the 2010s games writing and I'm happy we're finally away from whatever Forces tried to do. But it feels so cynical but to me the final straw was the constant references. It felt too unnatural. After over 10 years of abysmal writing its just ughh

Imma be real with you chief: I think Frontiers' story is worse than all the Pontaff games.

Oh, those have their issues too, but they're issues that honestly never bothered me beyond "eh, wish they did something more with it". Like, I wish they packed more cute meta references in Generations, since that one was actually meant to be a blast from the past. Or I wish Forces didn't miss outright chunks when it came to showing Eggman conquering the world. Or I wish Amy and Knuckles were more than the comic relief in Lost World. Or I wish that the majority of Colors' story wasn't Sonic talking to mute robots, and was more about him and Tails having a fun romp. Yeah, those games have a strong cheesy tone and were either rather fluffy or didn't elaborate much on their concepts, I don't deny it.

But I don't even know what to praise in Frontiers' story. I guess Sonic and Knuckles' homoerotic dynamic? That was funny lol. But the game is just so full of itself I can hardly see through its blatant arrogance. The story does so little and still pretends to fix everything that was wrong with Sonic in the '10s, when in some regards it regresses things.

It's still "Sonic does everything while his friends cheer on the side" which was a big complaint in the "Solo Sonica" era, but now I have to ooh and aah as Amy, Knuckles and Tails go through the same arcs they went through in 1998 which is what passes as "development". Yes, "development" is apparently Amy chewing Sonic out because he's more concerned about his friends' safety and wellbeing than making some random critters happy, or Tails moping around because he's "wildly inconsistent" - tell me how this is better than him actually doing shit in Forces to stop Eggman and his Death Egg, after the infamous "Sonic help me" scene?

Eggman sits on his ass for the majority of the game like in Sonic Heroes because we're back to the era where shitty gods without a personality steal the final boss role (at least Dark Gaia didn't talk :V), but I'm meant to aww because now he's human, now he's fleshed out, see he created a cute daughter for himself! He cares! He's sad for her death/he holds her hand like a cute papa! He's a better character now! Because being a papa was what he always needed! What do you mean that in the Pontaff games he was actually the sole, genuine threat? Something fans used to cheer for when Colors came out?

At least Zor and Infinite are endearing in their own tryhard way (and Infinite was voiced by my dear Liam O'Brien lmao), which is more I can say for The End and especially Sage, the laziest Rei Ayanami ripoff I've ever seen but without a smidge of her tragic personality.

But anyway, thank you for giving me another word to define Frontiers' story with: cynical. Yeah, in a way, it is cynical, in how it was only written to be considered better than the older stupid games, and better in the same way a fanfiction written by a disgruntled fan would be considered. That's what it tried to do, and I can't consider it better than what Forces tried to do, which was simply to appeal to multiple types of fans.

#sonic the hedgehog #should i tag this as anti frontiers #i don't know i don't care #i'm still bitter about this game #i don't even have beef with it in total #just the story

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chaotic-goodsir · 2 months

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Good morning, might I interest anyone in some hyperfixated rambling re:

1) Me being wrong about Wilbur Cross and John Macnamara's canon ages.

2) The newly explained Mega Bastards SaF lore (I know it's just Actor Curt Mega's headcanon but it's canon to me now)

3) The implications for my hcs about Wilbur being the Spankoffski bros uncle and John being related to Curt?

Keeping it under a readmore so I don't annoy everyone about this, because I have a lot of thoughts.

So it turns out I misunderstood John and Wilbur's canon ages in Black Friday.

According to the wiki they're around 42 and around 44 respectively in 2019. I'd imagined them as being 10 years older than this and therefore in their early 30s back in 1998, but in fact they should have been only 21 and 23 in that Saf/Hatchetverse crossover fic I wrote a while ago, and they were only 28 and 30 when the portal incident happened.

The question of whether Wiley can physically age post-2005 makes this interesting, though. Was Wilbur 44 in 2005, making Wiley eternally 44? That would mean that pre-portal Wilbur was a whole 15 or 16 years older than John, which works well I guess for the canon mentor-mentee context but not so well for my own MacNaCross headcanons. I think such a big age difference would change their dynamic a lot, plus I prefer the idea of Wilbur having been promoted at a fairly young age for a PIEP colonel.

For those reasons I'm gonna go with Wilbur being 30 in 2005 and Wiley being technically 44 in Black Friday, whether or not he ages in a normal human way. The most tragic implication of this is of course that I can't call Wilbur/Wiley a boomer anymore, since being born in 1975 makes them definitely Gen X :(

But it would also make the age difference between Wil and Annie (a Hatchetfield OC of mine who is Wil's sister and Pete and Ted's mom) much larger. Ted was born in 1984, so Annie would have to be at least 10 years older than Wilbur.

Having a 10 year age difference between the Cross Siblings would be kinda cool (it parallels the Spankoffski bros age difference!!) but it does mean rethinking all my headcanons about their sibling dynamic. Plus it would make Wilbur less than 10 years older than Ted and an actual uncle since the age of 9.

- Implications for my headcanons about where the Uncle Wiley character/voice came from? Perhaps.

- Would Ted have known Wilbur better when he was growing up? Seems more likely, especially if Annie helped her younger sibling out when he left home.

- What about Ted and Wilbur knowing each other around the time of the Jenny incident and the portal? Or when Pete was born in 2002? Or Homeless Ted's reasons for queuing up in Black Friday?

MUCH to consider and perhaps draw or write about some time.

Anyway. On a different note:

Combining Actor Curt Mega's headcanon about Agent Curt Mega having several illegitimate children with John and Wilbur's canon ages, it's completely possible (if you like SaF/Hatchetverse crossovers) for John Macnamara to be Curt's grandson.

If John is around 42 in TGWDLM and Black Friday, then he was born around 1976. So his mother or father could easily have been born in the early fifties as one of the illegitimate children resulting from Curt's spy activities. And it's likely John wouldn't know this, if the truth was kept a secret from him - which it probably would be, if his grandmother's line of work/status was the kind where you end up being seduced for espionage reasons by the world's greatest spy.

Again: Much to think about.

#hatchetverse #hatchetfield #starkid #spies are forever #wilbur cross #john macnamara #ted spankoffsi #time bastard #black friday starkid #agent curt mega #macnacross

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drifting-pieces-blog-blog · 2 months

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Breaking down the comics: A New Past (Vol 3, Issue 1-3)

Marc Spector: Moon Knight Vol 3

So this follows right after the OG run. We left behind Moench and Zelenetz.

Now we run into a new group of writers and artists.

Writers:

Chuck Dixon, Mike Baron, Howard Mackie, J.M. DeMatteis, Al Milgrom, and Bruce Jones

Artists:

Sal Velluto, Bill Reinhold, Russ Heath, Mark Bagley, Ron Garney, J.J. Birch, and Denys Cowan.

A whole group of names that aren't that common place. Which is a pity because they did an alright job!

When you look at the Omnibus, you also get a content warning!

"This content contains Depictions of racism, sexual assault and suicide. Reader discretion is advised. If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, please reach out to a counselor or someone you trust or Dial 988 for the suicide and crisis lifeline."

A bit of history: The crisis line was created in January 2005.

Since the first Marc Spector story came out in June 1989, it's safe to say this is a late Marvel addition. Hidden in moderate font on the credits page. This Omnibus book was published in 2023. A lot of new books that contain old content contain these new warnings.

I highly respect the Marvel publishers for the singular reason that when they re-released older content, they recognized the problems in them and rather than correct, censor, or hide them, they kept it as a piece of history and slapped a content warning on there.

ANOTHER interesting fact, when looking at the Omnibus, you get to see the dates. This series of Moon Knight ran from June 1989 through 1994.

It was ongoing and takes place after the West Coast Avengers, which technically took place directly after Zelenetz left, but I'm going to skip over that for now.

I doubt very much I will really cover West Coast Avengers (1987-1989, starting with issue #21 and ending with Issue #41). I might touch on it a bit later, but I was never really a fan. Plus he mostly just kinda pops in silently in the background with most of them.

Now, this was an interesting time in the comics. The early 90s saw things take a drastic turn towards EXTREME. The 90s were a new target audience, a new decade, and the world was changing.

The cold war came to an end at the end of 1991, but the Gulf War started in 1990.

Comics were suddenly competing with and trying to get a foot in on Television, which was suddenly a household thing and latch-key kids wanted something to hold their attention.

Now, the Marc Spector series has recently been released in Omnibus volumes. Vol 1 holds issues 1-34 with excerpts from Amazing Spider-Man #353-358 and specials including 'Divided We Fall'

Terry Kavanagh kicks off with Omnibus Vol 2 and that name should start to look more familiar. He worked on Spider-Man for a long time and X-men along with Avengers, Iron Man, and a lot of big crossovers.

Vol 2 holds Issues 25-60, a Moon Knight special, more Spider-Man crossover "Web of Spider-Man #93-94, and some Moon Knight from 1998-1999! (The Omnibus comes out this March 5th, 2024 if you're a collector!) Since it's not out yet, I'm going to be starting with Vol 1 for now.

What's interesting is that the series 'Marc Spector' ends with Marc's 'death'.

So what happens to Moon Knight after that? The king himself, Moench returns to resurrect Marc Spector for a second time in a 4 issue special.

In fact, Moench returns for the whole Moon Knight Vol 4 and 5 (1998-1999) mini series, each one 4 issues long.

Things had to be fixed after how it all ended, after all.

I'll cover the Moench specials later.

I’ll be honest. I’ve been putting off the 90s runs. The 90s were not exactly my cup of tea when it came to Marvel comics. I was more of a Batman fan (with a few notable exceptions). But as I’ve mentioned many times… My memory is pretty shit so maybe I’ll get into it and be happily surprised and enjoy myself more than I think I will.

So let’s get into it!

Let's start with Issue #1!

Marc Spector: Moon Knight. Issue #1: New Moon.

Written by Charles Dixon

Art by Sal Velluto

We open on Long Island. We see someone doing a 3am diaper run and stopping at an ATM first.

Two thugs sit in a car on the corner waiting. They spot the poor sleepy dad and decide he'd make a nice cash grab.

They hold him up at gun point and demand he take out the max.

Well... One holds him at gun point. The other rips the door off the man's car for some reason.

Hey look, It's our man!

Now, remember, Moon Knight has been out of New York for a while with the West Coast Avengers. We're picking up here right after he left them.

Moon Knight casts his shadow on the villains.

"You boys forget your bank cards?"

"It's a ghost!"

"I've been away too long. You guys don't even recognize me."

"It ain't no ghost, Rocket scientist. But he's gonna be one."

Title card: NEW MOON. Beginning a new series chronicling the adventures of Marc Spector.

You know, the art here really brings to mind early Sienkiewicz Moon Knight. The dramatic leap that leaves his ass out. The awkward stances, the action kicks, the clenched fists... Maybe the poses are a LITTLE more awkward than Bill gave Marc credit for, but I'm loving the clean lines and shading.

Plus, Do I spy a crescent dart upgrade!?

Marc quips “After all of the high-powered weirdos I fought with the West Coast Avengers… It's good to be back on home turf kicking the rear ends of a few AVERAGE lowlifes!"

Marc has always loved beating on common thugs. He so often fights supernatural brutal muscle bound villains. When he gets a casual robbery, he’s almost giddy.

Notice I’m saying Marc here a lot.

When Moon Knight joined the Avengers on the West Coast, we did not see any sign of Jake or Steven. We know from the OG run that Jake doesn’t leave New York. And I suspect that Steven has never played well with the Avengers or team ups of that sort.

Perhaps we had Moon Knight as himself, but it’s clear from the title of this series that we’re going to be getting Marc Spector himself and the writers that will be working on this are most likely not comfortable working with Friendly and Loving Jake and Generous and glitzy Steven. Of course the wild and extreme early 90s is going to focus on Marc. And thus we start down the LONG and drawn out Moon Knight tradition of forgetting that he has DID with other Alters and not just Schizophrenia with a ‘pretend’ identity crisis.

But I’m going to take this down a different path and we’re going to look at this as Marc falling into the trap of his usual denial and trying to get his life together by holding front so hard that you’d have to literally pry it out of his cold dead fingers (ha ha, we’ll get to that later).

Anyways, back to the comic. The thugs are subdued and the poor sleepy dad man thanks him "You're Moonbeam, aren't you?"

"Moon KNIGHT, pal. I have been out of New York too long."

Marc ties up the thugs and tells the guy to wait there for the cups. He radioed ahead to them before he dropped in.

The chopper arrives and Marc gets on the ladder and takes off with the most awkward:

"There they are now. Take it easy, Citizen." and he salutes.

Yeah.... It's Marc. Without a doubt... No one could be that awkward but Marc...

On the chopper, Frenchie has also taken note of the moment.

"'Take it easy, Citizen?'"

"Aw, lighten up, Frenchie."

Marc takes off the mask and relaxes back next to Frenchie in a really weirdly designed chopper that looks more like a hover car than anything... But sure. Upgrades!

"Y'know, Frenchie... I think the guy I saved down there was more afraid of me than those hoods."

"Is that not the reason for the costume?"

"Sure. But I don't want the innocent to fear me."

"The innocent will fear you most of all."

"I should have shaved. This mask chafes my face something awful."

Marc...

It is very nice to see them actually talking, though. You never got to see Marc and Frenchie actually be the friends they were supposed to be. And Marc is never more relaxed than when he's with Frenchie and they can talk about the past without worry.

"Crime fighting doesn't seem to suit you these days, frenchie."

"It is a waste of our talents, Marc. We could have easily strafed those dogs out of existence."

"We're not mercenaries anymore. We can't just make things up as we go along. We've got rules in this country, m'man."

"Then I do not like the rules."

"Live it or live with it, Frenchie."

Now this is interesting because this is the first time that we really get a feel for what Frenchie thinks of all of this superhero business.

We know Frenchie was a Legionnaire, we know he was a very GOOD mercenary that helped recruit Marc in the first place, and that his talents are with vehicles.

We also know that Frenchie had strong opinions on the work he took (as seen in the very first issue when he came to Marc to complain about Bushman's sketchy business).

But Frenchie ALSO was very attached to Marc and followed him without question.

So here we have Frenchie noting that picking on thugs is far below what they are both capable of.

Just an interesting tidbit.

Another interesting tidbit is that we see the Mooncopter landing back at Grand Mansion and Marc notes that he was able to buy it back after returning from West Coast Avengers.

"At TWICE the amount you sold it for, Marc."

"You're on my case tonight, Frenchie."

We get a little map of where the mansion is on Long Island and that the current Market Value is $5,890,000. Which.... In today's currency is: $14,649,807.50 today!!!!!!

Here’s a pretty cool design of the mansion with fun facts!

Now what's interesting is that we see Marc returning to an empty mansion. Just him and Frenchie. No Marlene. No Samules the Butler or Nedda the cook.

The phone rings from an unlisted number and when he answers, no one says anything.

Angrily, he hangs up and we get a view of a woman on the other line saying "He's home. We got the right number."

This explains why we are getting blueprints of the moonchopper and the mansion and map of Long Island. Someone's looking for Marc.

Marc does Marc things and wanders the mansion a bit and starts talking to the Khonshu statue.

It's time for the Marc Spector Recap of how he became Moon Knight! (remember, this is issue #1 so it's a good place for new readers to pick up a new comic. You'll often find recaps and deep character introductions in 1st issues.)

"Past four in the morning and all the sane people are in bed. It's all YOUR fault, Khonshu. You got me into this. God of the moon, taker of vengeance.

Actually I got me into this when I hooked up with that crazy Bushman back in my mercenary days. Now THERE was a prime psycho.

Killing is a part of any war, but Bushman got off on it. I tagged along until he killed Dr. Peter Alraune, an American archaeologist, and it looked like his daughter was next.

I helped Marlene escape and then challenged Bushman in hand to hand combat. Not one of my brighter ideas.

He left me for dead and he was just about right! Somehow I managed to make it to the digs that the doctor was trying to protect... The Shrine of Khonshu.

Marlene tells me I 'Died' there and was revived by the spirit of Khonshu.

I wrapped myself in Khonshu's shroud and, from that night on, I took on the mantle of Moon Knight."

Oh Marc... You would tell it like that.

Marc heads up stairs to bed (tossing his cape on the stairs as he goes) and when he enters his room someone jumps at him.

Marc fends them off, elbowing them and then flipping them onto the bed.

Oh hey! It's Marlene!

And she's already half undressed. Welcome to the 90s!

"You play a little rough, cowboy. I think you broke one of my nails."

"What did you expect sneaking in here like that?"

"Well, there was no one home. I thought I'd surprise you."

"Mission accomplished, Baby."

"Not so easy the way you have this place wired. But my sneaking skills needed a workout anyway, so...I thought I'd come see you. It's been so long, and I thought I'd take a chance..."

And the two goof off a bit then we have implied hanky-panky as the scene cuts away.

I have well known mixed feelings about Marlene. And with Marc now running the show, it's interesting that she'd come back, considering her feelings on Marc vs. Steven. More interesting that he left her behind.

We cut to Manhattan and find two guys in Hawaiian shirts at a large computer terminal (gotta love those 1980s thick monitors). They're celebrating because:

"We got this Moon Knight guy blued, stewed and tattooed! We know more about him than he knows about himself, Tector!

Yuh done good, little brother. You worked some real magic with that keyboard. Our bossman is gonna be so proud."

And the boss steps in, asking if they have found him yet.

"Tector's digging up more data on his home security system. So far it looks like a hummer! Bet the Kremlin in Russia ain't got so fine a wire job, boss."

And we pan out to find the boss:

Alright, he’s upped his style and given himself a new title. I appreciate the new look. They kept it authentic to the original Bushman and also added in their own artistic style and I dig it. Not sure about the new outfit, but who am I to tell our delusional bad guy how to dress?

"I want projections on the best way to approach Moon Knight. I want his weaknesses exposed to me. This information is vital to my nation's security, Lyle. You will have it by morning."

Good to see he's still absolutely obsessed with Marc.

And that since we are starting Marc Spector Issue 1, we are going back to the original with Marc's own personal villain, Bushman.

I have a lot to say about Bushman, and I'll save it for the end. So stick around!

Back at Spector Mansion...

It actually says "Spector Mansion."

Another interesting detail because the OG ALWAYS called it Grant Mansion.

Marlene wakes up to find Marc working out in his gym.

"You know, Marc, I'm kind of surprised you're still doing the Moon Knight thing."

"You have a problem with that, Marlene?"

"Why do you do it?"

"I want to do like that dog says on TV. 'Take a bite out of crime'."

(Scruff McGruff. You were a weird part of my childhood).

They argue about letting the police do the work and Marc argues that the police can't be everywhere and do everything.

(That style though.)

"You used to fight a more noble battle."

"I was a Mercenary, for cryin' out loud."

"Don't play the cynic with me. You weren't in it for the cash. If you were you wouldn't have pitched in on the losing side so often."

"I LIKE long odds."

"You're impossible!"

"And YOU are getting more like Frenchie. I get the feeling I'm outnumbered around here."

This is an interesting conversation we keep getting here from both Marlene and Frenchie. That they think he was better as a Mercenary but he argues that his Mercenary work was not good for him.

Marc says he's starving but that he gave the cook the week off.

Marlene asks how Nedda is.

"Oh, I retired her to my condo in Boca Raton. I never go there anyway. Chloe's the new cook."

"What's she like?"

"Not terribly attractive. She's older than Moses and has a mustache that Frenchie's jealous of."

"Marc, you're terrible."

And then Chloe walks in unexpectedly.

(Alright. It’s going to be like that. Welcome to the 90s.)

Yep.

Down in the chopper area, we find Marc now working on the chopper for once.

Come to think of it, in the OG, it was ALWAYS Frenchie up working on the chopper. But then again, it was always Steven at the mansion. Now that Marc is out and about, he's the one tinkering about.

"YOu're working down here late, Marc. Didn't I see Marlene earlier?"

"Sure did, Frenchie. We have resumed our stormy relationship. She got an eyeful of Chloe and I sent her packing off to the mall with my goldcard to smooth things over."

"Americans... You fight with your women because you don't know how to love them."

Ah, Frenchie...

They are interrupted by a frantic call on the radio from Marlene. She's driving on the highway and she's "Under attack"!

I am pleased that the writers remembered that Marlene knows how to handle herself. She was trained by Marc, after all. She can shoot, fight, and drive. She’s no damsel in distress.

Marc shows up and finds the car empty. He attacks the remaining gun-men and demands to know where Marlene is.

"Spector, are you STILL parading about in that ridiculous costume?"

"You're one to talk about taste in clothes, Bushman."

"Amusing, Spector, you always were a glub one."

Bushman holds Marlene at knife point (Speaking of damsel in distress) and demands that Marc meet up with him later tonight to find out what his demands are.

He then shoots one of his own men just to prove the point that he's still a vicious cold blooded killer, then he drives off in a classy car with Marlene.

Marc is...less than happy about this.

"You're a dead man, Bushman. You just don't know it yet."

TO BE CONTINUED.

I’m not going to make you wait. Here you go!

Marc Spector, Moon Knight: Issue #2: Hunter’s Moon.

Written by: Charles Dixon

Art by: Sal Velluto

Alright, Apparently Spider-Man is going to be in this one. This is going to be interesting.

We open back up in Manhattan.

We got three nerdy looking guys on a roof across from the Excelsior (Fancy hotel) with a telescope spying on the guests.

While fighting over the 'scope, they happen to catch a glimpse of 'a ghost'.

Yeah, he's being real sneaky there.

So there he is... at the Embassy of the Republic of Burunda. This is Bushman's new country that he has made himself 'President' of.

Marc notes the place looks pretty well armored and guarded. He has Frenchie up in the sky as usual.

"I'm WAY behind on my current events. I didn't know that Bushman had set himself up as the strongman in Burunda."

"I saw it on sixty minutes. Forgot to tell you."

Frenchie suggests waiting for Bushman to call and tell him what he wants, since they aren't even sure if Bushman has Marlene in the embassy.

Marc says Bushman enjoys always having the edge, including diplomatic immunity. There's no way he's going to wait.

Hey look, the tech brothers from before are back!

They have caught sight of Moon Knight on their CCTV cams.

Bushman decides to send Marc a message.

"Spector must be discouraged from coming near the embassy again. He must meet my demands without question. Is that CLear, Mister Glitch?"

While Marc tries to track someone leaving the Embassy, Bushman sends his personal bodyguards after him.

HEY. Remember the warning at the top of this collected run? The one about racism and other things?

He puts up a fight, telling Frenchie to stay on the guy leaving the embassy.

Marc puts up a fight and jumps around building to building until he gets ahead.

Spider-man happens to be swinging by and notices Marc's group.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday... A bunch of guys dressed like Tarzan extras running into central park after midnight."

Spider-man follows and good ol' Peter Parker takes out the camera to catch some shots of Moon Knight in action.

"They seem to be after the one in the cape. Might as well take some pictures to sell to the paper. This guy sure doesn't need MY help. Say "Cheese" everybody."

Marc takes out the last of the group and continues his chase.

"Moon Knight, huh? I thought he was in California. Well, off to the darkroom. And thanks for the help with the rent, Moonie!"

And Spider-man heads out.

(I've talked about 'special guest appearances' in comics before. It's a big show to get people to buy and read the comic and try to convince new fans to come in. You're lucky if they are in the comic for half a page.)

Marc is back on the tail of the guy and he meets up with him.

He tells the guy they need to talk and then...He knocks him out with knockout gas. Wh...Why?

Maybe the guy wanted to talk? Why are you knocking out and kidnapping a guy before you even find out if he has the info you need?!

....Back at the Embassy, we find Marlene is inside and not happy.

People forget that while Marc has a grudge and hate of Bushman, Marlene is the one whose father was killed by him.

He tells Marlene that he's a man of the people, HIS people, and unfortunately his people are very poor. It seems he expects Marc to fix that situation.

Back to Marc and his poor decision making skills...

We find the man he's kidnapped waking up... and dangling upside down from the moon chopper.

Not going to lie, his little wave in that first panel is sending me.

So it seems Bushman wants ten million dollars. Lemme just get the conversion calculator out: $25,456,099.59.

Yeah. I'd want that much too.

"He wants it in one week or he'll chop the girl to pieces."

"And where am I supposed to get Ten Mill?"

"Find a way! The General knows you've got the money!"

"I don't like what you had to say, Buddy. Have a nice fall."

And Marc pushes him out of the chopper.

Lucky for the man, Frenchie had bought the chopper down and the man only falls a couple feet.

He tells the man to tell Bushman that he'll be in touch.

Next up? Marc goes to see his accountant!

"You don't have ten million bucks lying around in 'sacks' somewhere."

LOL Marc...

"Your money's tied up in real estate and business interests and your art collection."

"So SELL some of the paintings. Sell some of my business interests."

"What wuld you like me to do? Hang a garage sale sign on the mailbox? 'Picasso for sale, CHEAP'? And as far as your business interests go, they're just that: INTERESTS. You have partners in these ventures that you would HURT by liquidating in a big hurry--Not to mention the employees."

Steven is in there having a FIT right now.

I'm dying right now because I was JUST talking to someone about how clever Steven was with their money and how Marc has no idea what he's doing with money and probably took two days to lose it all in the current run. I’d like to amend my statement to say he’d lose it in two hours.

"I don't know what you need the money for, it can't be anything Kosher, Marc. But we just can't swing it."

Marc apologizes for losing his temper. The accountant leaves and he tells Frenchie the bad news. "I'm what they call cash poor."

Oh Marc... Is... Is that a Khonshu bust on his desk? Wh...

"That's the bad news. The good news is that we get to do this MY way."

Marc...

"And this time I go alone."

Back at the Embassy, we see a "Empire Cable commercial repair" truck pull up. A guy gets out and goes up to the gate.

Oh no. Is he doing what I think he's doing?

MARC.

The guard says he can't let anyone in without varifying first. The General is busy and doesn't want to be disturbed so "I will call your company."

So he calls the number on the truck, which would not verify anything if this was a guy trying to sneak in. But what's logic for you?

And GUESS WHAT. The number goes to Frenchie putting on an accent.

He verifies the job and sends the cable repair guy in with another guard.

Once inside, Marc knocks out the guard with chloroform (Why does he had so much chloroform?) and rushes off, leaving the body in the middle of the floor.

And the tech brothers sure as heck notice a strange guy running around on the CCTV cameras.

They call the front gate and have a thing or two to say about a 'cable repair guy'.

Marc starts just opening random doors looking for Marlene.

A couple of guards spot him and Marc knocks them out. So much for his disguise.

Back in Moon Knight attire, he runs down the hall. The tech guys decide to take off. They know a bad fight when they see one coming.

Marc continues his quest of opening EVERY door he finds while yelling "MARLENE!"

SIGH. Marc… This is why you need Steven and Jake. Just putting that out there.

So Marc beats up all the big buff gym boys.

I appreciate that they at one point get the upper hand and pin him down while beating him and Marc just goes "You'll have to do better than that" after taking a few hard hits.

Marc really does not treat the body well.

He asks the last guy where Marlene is before knocking him out.

He busts in so hard that I’m tempted to count it on my “jumps through window” tally.

(Look at this dramatic idiot. This is the biggest wet cat yowling energy I’ve ever seen.)

SO he busts in and is met with a SAW-esque situation with Bushman on TV.

Bushman tells him he had to fly back to his homeland on urgent business and he's taken Marlene with him.

TO BE CONTINUED.

At the end of the issue we have a "Let's meet the team" afterward and we get to learn a little about the new group working on Moon Knight.

It's very brief. Mostly it's just how old they are, if they are married or have kids, and a few previous comic names they have worked on.

I'm going to be frank with you here. If you've been reading my other reviews, you have an idea on what's been going on in Marvel during this time and WHY Moench isn't writing Moon Knight at this time.

Marvel comics had just had a huge upheaval of all their major writers and artists due to disagreements with the editor in chief. So these are a lot of young guys that are coming in off of low name comics.

ALSO none of them talk about why or how they got placed into the Moon Knight run.

So my big question is why don't you think of these guys when you think of Moon Knight? I can name SO MANY writers and artists from may different runs that were amazing or terrible. Or even just mid. But these guys? Not even a blip on my chart.

Clearly Chuck Dixon had Moon Knight for more than just a guest writer or special.

Doing a little background look into him, he was best known for Punisher and DC comics like Batman, Nightwing, and Robin in the 1990s and 2000s.

He got his start in the big leagues with Conan and worked his way up to Marc Spector: Moon Knight. After that, he started on Punisher and Punisher war Journal. DC got their mits on him and he became "DC's most prolific Batman writer in the 1990s".

So yeah... Despite working on Moon Knight 1989-1992 for 25 issues... He just isn't a big name for the comic.

And honestly, the Marc Spector Moon Knight run was often considered very MID. Not outright terrible, but very directionless. It existed and left very little impact on the series.

I'll give it credit that it DID at least keep the series going and allow it to reboot again later instead of just disappearing forever. So thank you for that!

But… I remember that Zelenetz had an interview where he talked about where he had wanted to take Moon Knight after Vol 2 ended, but he was no longer on the project. Now I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had been allowed to keep going.

ANYWAYS… What issue are we on?

Marc Spector, Moon Knight: Issue #3: Butcher’s Moon

Written by: Charles Dixon

Art by: Sal Velluto

Oh boy. Where’s that Content Warning able? I have a feeling this is about to get dicey.

WOW. Right out the gate!

Alright so... We see an airport and someone is going through customs.

We are now in Burunda.

And a very uh... characture... fellow... asks to see this guy's passport.

It's CLEARLY Marc in a disguise. He has a European UK Passport and is claiming to be Ian Waller, a photo journalist from Manchester sent to take pictures of how the country is doing under the new General leader Bushman.

The customs officer keeps his passport, telling him that he will get it back when he leaves. (Not a good sign.)

The town is "Freedomtown" and ....

I'm going to make you squint at this picture.

You got a clearly poor country depicted under the rule of a tyrant that rules through fear and violence.

You got a car with the word "TAXI" spray painted on the side. He claims to be the only taxi in the country.

Then you have several children running after the 'photojournalist' yelling "White man rich? White man have dollar?"

Then on the corner you have what's clearly supposed to be a hooker and her pimp not too far away, though it's cleverly disguised as a bus stop and can be argued otherwise. Then you got homeless guys and bags of trash... There's a lot going on here. It's like a Where's Waldo of stereotypical poor African country depiction.

He gets in the taxi and the driver takes off.

"Driver? I didn't give you a destination."

"Only ONE destination, Sah. Only ONE Hotel."

(I am grinning at the idea of Marc putting on a fake Manchester Accent. Thank you Steven Grant MCU. He actually says "I guess it is, innit?" and I'm so happy).

The 'photojournalist' goes to take a picture of some military group and the Taxi driver smacks his camera down.

"No! NO picture without permission, Sah."

How very North Korea of you.

The Journalist gets to the hotel and starts to unpack.

Would you look at that? It's Marc Spector in disguise! (Another mustache) He vows that once it gets dark he's going to go looking for Marlene and also take care of Bushman.

We head over to the Presidential Palace.

Out front we see a truck arrive full of people and a bunch of guards with guns offloading them.

And in the back of the palace there is a large pool. So of course we see Marlene out for a swim in a tiny bikini. Getting back to the basics.

She gets out of the pool and Bushman offers her a robe. They exchange a few quips.

"What's your game, Bushman? What made you want to settle down and rule your own personal dungheap?"

"I Feel compassion for my people. This WAS my homeland. The Tribe my family belonged to once ruled this land frm end to end until the Europeans deposed them. Now I rule. I am like a warming sun shining on my people. I am like the rain that nourishes the soil."

"I can think of another thing that nourishes the soil, General. And you're full of it."

While they talk, they are interrupted by gunfire.

"You do amuse me. You find my ways harsh. I see them as direct. As sole ruler of Burunda, I face no opposition, no Bureaucracy. I am free to deal with my nation's problems efficiently."

We cut to another panel where we see soldiers with smoking guns and a pile of dead bodies of men young and old.

"Problems such as aids. I have found a cure for aids."

HISTORY TIME:

Alright. There is a LOT going on in that last panel. A LOT of history. A LOT of politics. a LOT of terrible things.

This comic came out in 1989. We are at the height of the Aids pandemic. I'm not going to get deeply into it, but if you have questions please feel free to ask. In America, it was seen strictly as a Homosexual disease and the people afflicted were written off, forgotten, and left to die alone and scared. In Africa, many places saw Aids as a sin-ful or taboo disease and they were cast out of their villages or outright killed.

It was a disease that wiped out a generation of homosexual men and is the reason why there are so few older gays for younger people to learn from. It's... It's a whole thing and there are papers and books and documentaries on it.

What I find interesting in relation to THIS comic in particular...

We are in 1989, it's still killing gay men and a lot of people saw this as a good thing. The way this panel is done is to show how terrible this is. It brings humanity to the aids victims and shows that killing them is NOT a solution and is a terrible thing. ALSO considering the Marvel editor in chief that caused a lot of writers to leave was intensely homophobic, this may have been a sneaky jab.

Take my word for it, there is a LOT going on.

It's a beautifully sad panel. I'm not going to show it because it has dead bodies and depicts extreme violence and is just too depressing.

Back to the comic!

Marlene yells at Bushman, demanding to be let go.

Bushman says that "Spector will come for you. He loves you more than he will ever admit to you, I know him. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants."

Back at the hotel we see a bunch of guards knocking on the 'photo journalist's' door.

They go inside only to find him gone!

Up on the roof, we have Moon Knight holding a bow and arrow set.

"Nobody in sight. Bushman probably has a curfew around here. Boy, is he strict. Hope nobody asks for my hall pass."

I must say that the colorist really did a fantastic job on the night time shading and moon light glow. It's just very pretty.

He climbs a bell tower to get a good view of the area and finds a military compound with a large fuel truck.

Marc, of course, gets a bright idea for a diversion.

One of the guards near the truck pulls out a cigaret and asks for a light. A note says "Translated from Domi, a local tribal dialect"

"I got your light, Pal." Marc says just before he lets loose an arrow.

What I love about this is that Marc understands him. Implying that Marc understands the dialect. This is why he's such a good mercinary. He isn't just good at killing and fighting. He was amazing at learning everything about the places he went, including the language.

The arrow hits the truck and BLAAAAAAAAAAM.

Oh look at that. An Ammunition storehouse.

Yeah, he blows that one up too. He's having a good time.

"That should keep their eyes off the rooflines and their minds off ME for a while."

We find Bushman in his private office wathing a women's fighting match.

Someone interrupts him to tell him that the supply depot has exploded and injured many men, but somehow not killed anyone.

"He is here." Bushman smiles.

If you will think back to issue 1 of Moon Knight, Marc did the exact same thing when he came back from the dead and was sneaking back into the dig site. He blew up a truck to cause a distraction.

I'm starting to think Marc might be a bit of a pyro.

"We now head Several Hundred Miles South" where a bunch of men are sitting around a camp fire near a helicopter.

And here we see Frenchie walking up. He starts in French, saying hello and asking if they speak French. Then English.

"I want to buy your helicopter."

"You are saying WHAT?"

"The Huey. I want to buy your Huey."

They laugh a little, thinking he is joking until Frenchie pulls out a suitcase full of money.

....Now... I'd like to point out that Frenchie did just as much work as Marc, possibly more, and got paid a lot. He never really did much with it... He probably has a lot saved up. He ALSO probably had Steven invest for him. I would not be surprised if Frenchie is richer than Marc.

So he takes off with the chopper and tosses behind the money.

Back in town, we see the soldiers running around looking for Moon Knight.

Up high, we see Moon Knight walking across the power lines towards the palace.

He sneaks inside and takes out a guard.

Elsewhere, we see two soldiers moving to retrieve Marlene for Bushman.

They hear the shower running and go to get her (and take a peek). She opens the curtain and reveals she's in her bathing suit and ready to fight. She sprays one guy with hot water in the face then kicks the other guard.

She manages to steal a fifle and takes off. "This is what Bushman calls an army? I might not even need this rifle."

Marc is having a similar thought.

Bullets fly all over as he runs down a hall.

"These guys can't be this bad at marksmanship by accident. It's more like they're just chasing me somewhere. If it's closer to Bushman, then I'm happy to oblige."

WINDOW! WINDOW! WE HAVE A WINDOW!

Now, let me just say, I do love the Bushman design in this. This is how he SHOULD be. Not whatever that was that Bemis gave us.

"Do you see this sword? It is the traditional weapon of my people."

"Thanks for showing me the family silverware, Bushman. But I'm here for the woman."

"Some things never change. You always did use snappy banter when you were most nervous, Spector. Defeat me and the woman's yours."

Marc asks why Bushman became obsessed with him.

"You represent everything I hate. A mercenary making his fortune from the miseries of the third world."

"Cut the bull! You made millions and never cared where the money came from as long as you could spend it. I may have been a mercenary, but you were a butcher! I never shot anyone who wasn't pointing a gun at me."

"It was just such softness that always got you in trouble!"

They start the battle. Marc with his nun-chucks snaps takes their swings. Bushman draws first blood when he slices through Marc's mask.

"It's not who bleeds first. It's who's left standing!"

Another slice cuts into Marc's side, but he's had worse.

Marc kicks him in the chest then smashes his face with the palm of his hand.

Marc goes full ...Marc... on Bushman, fists and blows. It's his fighting style to take hits and keep going.

Marc gets the upper hand and demands to know where Marlene is.

Bushman calls out to his men to shoot Marc.

"They shoot me, they hit you too!" Marc reminds him.

But then bullets rain down around them, snapping Bushman's sword in two.

And Frenchie comes in with the chopper.

"Through playing the hero yet, Marc?"

"Good to hear your voice, Frenchie. Put her down as close as you can. This place is HOT."

Marlene wants to know why she can't just shoot Bushman and end it.

Marc tells her not to. He fails to give her any good reason other than that they need to get out of there quickly.

I have theories about this that I'll discuss in a moment.

Marc releases Bushman as soon as they start to take off.

"You walk away this time, General. THIS time!"

Frenchie opens fire, scattering the men to prevent them from trying to shoot them down.

What I love about this is that Marc is still the chaotic, bad decision making, single man army, and utter goof he has always been and will continue to be when written well. He has a strange but endearing sense of humor and he does not take it well when those close to him are at risk.

So this story done, let’s address a few things!

In this introduction to the new series, you’ll notice a lot of people are missing.

Where’s Gena, Crawley, Samules, Nedda, Jake, and Steven? Why is this Marc Spector in title and the Spector Mansion? Why is Marlene suddenly addressing him as Marc and okay with dating Marc when she’s previously hated Marc and only wanted to be with Steven?

No one addressed their DID better than Moench. With Moench out of the picture, who was very forward thinking in terms of this mental illness and its depictions for its time, we are now at the mercy of people who have not done their research and who have not kept up with the evolution of mental illness. We are now at the mercy of writers that follow Hollywood depictions. Sure, Moench based it off of Hollywood at first, but somehow, this man was in touch with modern issues, accurate depictions of DID, PTSD, depression, dissociation… He had a gift.

With the upheaval at Marvel, they were more reliant on the reader and what the statistics told them readers wanted. Readers of the early 90s apparently wanted ACTION and HOT BABES and MANLY MEN. So guess what? Marc’s in charge and the others? They are going to be lucky to get any screen time. We’re going to start seeing more references to Marc ‘pretending to be other people’ and more references to Marc as being closer to Schizophrenia or ‘crazy’ than DID (or Multiple Personality Disorder, as it was known by at the time).

And all those side characters? We’ve already seen that Nedda has been retired. Samules? Also probably retired and replaced by Chloe up there in her bikini.

Gena? In the last run, Gena was talking a lot about leaving. She’d been through a lot and she, perhaps, was the first victim of being too close to them. She was beloved by Jake and she acted as a kind and nurturing voice with him. She brought out the best in him and he loved her boys like a doting uncle. And she was the first to get hurt.

So will we see Gena in this run? We’ll have to wait and see.

What about Crawley? An eccentric and useful man to Jake and Moon Knight. Here’s the deal on Crawley. Moench wrote him with such a unique way of speaking that other writers found it difficult to keep it going with him. Even his personality was pretty unique. So we aren’t going to see a whole lot of Crawley either, and he may change in how we see him.

Now for Jake and Steven? In Moench’s run, Marc took the back seat. From this point on in Moon Knight history, Marc is going to sit front and center and the other two are going to be passing fancies. Perhaps I’ll make a different analysis on this later. What DOES happen is that we are going to start seeing more of WHO Marc Spector really is, and not just what Steven and Jake see. (He's kind of a goofy idiot with severe self loathing).

Bushman: I think I talked about this before, but in case I didn’t or you haven’t read it yet, here we go again (for the first time?).

Bushman was never meant to be the BIG BAD. He was the catalyst. When Marlene asks Bushman why he’s obsessed with Marc, Bushman notes that he created Marc’s need to become Moon Knight.

In reality, he is the one that ‘killed’ Marc, which did take him to Khonshu’s temple and this made him take the shroud and become Moon Knight. He’s also the one that made Marc realize he had a conflicted code of ethics and morals.

But when it comes to Bushman, Marc does not see him as ‘the big bad’. He sees a frustrating man that has an unhealthy obsession with him and often causes him stress.

And we’ve seen time and time again that Bushman does not stand up to Marc’s fighting abilities. It’s why Bushman obsesses with him. He feels like Marc was just some random guy he found and somehow Marc is better than him. And while Bushman has set out to be the best, Marc doesn’t care. Marc just IS good at what he does.

So why do fans and writers see Bushman appear and go “OHHH” and get excited?

Because Bushman represents who Marc could have been. Bushman is a representation of Marc’s past. The violence, the killing, the coldbloodedness. He’s everything Marc was becoming but still fought against. Bushman is Marc’s inner struggle. He is what Marc rebels against but still turns to time and time again.

When Marc spirals, he spirals with the image of Bushman. He was never that bad. He was never seen as being as ‘good’ as Bushman because he would not let himself become that far gone. But as Moon Knight, they have proven to be better.

Of course then you have the writers that just have a thing for Bushman because he’s ‘badass’ (Looking at you Bemis) and don’t know how to utilize him properly.

Anyways! This was the start of “Marc Spector: Moon Knight”. What do you think so far?

I’m going to be taking these in batches and not one at a time. So expect longer posts when I get to them! (Unless you have a special single issue that deserves more time).

…this was a long post.

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight comics #Analyzing the comics #Marc Spector #Jake Lockley #Steven Grant #Marlene Alraune #Bushman #I'm back!#That was a longer break than I intended but things happened

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