#1940s girl gang

[mercurygray]

Blind Dates 2025: Reputed

Well, this was half a Blind Date and half of a character study on Bill, but I had fun with it and that's what counts! Everyone go read the rest of the @blind-dates-fest characters! Fandom: SAS: Rogue Heroes (spoilers for s2) Word Count: 3,285

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Wars, his father used to say, are fought by soldiers but won by plans.

Bill Stirling knew in his heart that his father was correct - Brigadier General Archibald Stirling was something of an expert on these things - but the reassurance still weighed very little against the actual doing of the thing, and if Bill had to sign another requisition in triplicate authorizing the removal or reorganization or re-upping of whatever to wherever he was quite sure he was going to throw something.

No one became a soldier to fill out paperwork - and yet here here he was, and paperwork seemed to be all he had.

Bill could remember far too many conversations along these lines in Cairo, David ranting over his whiskey while Peter only laughed. "Well it's all right for you, you're at the damn embassy," David accused. "What is the point of being in a fucking war if there's not going to be any fucking fighting?" And then Peter would say something else inflammatory and David would pull back his chair and Bill would move the bottles and the glasses and suggest they all go home if they were only intent on breaking things.

That was the way of it, with older siblings, despite whatever anyone might say to the contrary - always negotiating, always second. Older brothers were supposed to take the high road and let their younger brothers have their way - to let them be the first to chose the game and first to say when they were finished, first to chose sides and first to declare winners. They’re little, the nursemaid would say, as David took the biggest cookie and Peter the biggest sandwich and Hugh the better tennis racquet, even though he was only four and couldn’t yet play. They don’t know better, he was told, even when Hugh came crying back with the racquet, broken now, and wondering why he could not make the ball go as far as Bill had.

And Bill would have to let it go. Older brothers were supposed to pick up whatever got put down and make it work again - clockwork toys and regiments, both.

So here he was, in Bagnara, still fixing David's toys, and dealing with all the other nonsense that his brother had never bothered with because in his world wars were not for paperwork or plans. Never mind that he'd had his own ambitions, his own selected trajectory, the things that he might call his own and mean it. David and Hugh wanted glory, and Peter wanted power, and Bill wanted - Bill wanted purpose, what he'd had at Inverailort. The trainings he'd lead, the soldiers he'd selected and honed like their fighting knives, ready to go silently back into their sheath until the time was at hand to let them loose. The purpose of the organization to which you and I belong is subversion.

Bill took a deep breath and looked around him at the remains of the German guard post, noting the blood spatters, the ripped clothes and gouged eyes. There was nothing subversive about this, nothing subtle - these were the wild dogs of war that his brother had so boasted about. Blood and destruction shall be so in use, and dreadful objects so familiar that mothers shall but smile when they behold their infants quarter'd with the hands of war.

Paddy Mayne would have appreciated the Shakespeare, he thought - the man seemed to have a poetic tag for everything. Including women, perhaps? Bill glanced down the road at the approaching car, reviewing the approach to his next problem.

"Let's try and avoid relaying any idle gossip about mad men and savages to anyone," he said to the officer next to him, carefully watching the woman in the back seat, the sun glinting on her glasses and the bright silk of her scarf. "Especially not her. She's a journalist and a spy."

"No, sir. Of course not, sir." Greville-Bell took a deep breath of his own, and then asked, almost hesitating as he considered the jeep that was now approaching. "How do you know she's a spy, sir?"

The question almost made Bill laugh. Because no woman comes here openly who isn't looking for something. Because I've been told so, by men I can trust. Because it takes one to know one, and that's what I am, too. "Call it a hunch, Lieutenant," Stirling said, and offered no further information, letting the other officer return to the duties he'd just been assigned while he carefully combed his hair down with his fingers and adjusted his shirt - a little movement she was sure to see from the back seat of the jeep. Here was his role today - the less polished older brother, trying to impress the pretty girl who'd captured his brother's eye. "Ah, Miss Mansour. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Stirling. 2SAS. We missed each other in Sicily."

"You mean you avoided me and ignored my request for an interview." The Frenchwoman exited the jeep with a sense of urgency, hardly paying any attention to Bill as she glanced around the guard post, taking note herself of the bodies splayed here and there whose pockets were still being investigated by his intelligence officers.

Straightforward - he'd expected that. "I don't really do interviews. Rather busy fighting a war."

"I knew your brother in Cairo," she said, casually, like that was going to bait him into something.

"Yes," Bill said, squaring his shoulders as if with some annoyance, "and because he is my brother, he told me absolutely nothing about you."

One got territorial, in a house full of brothers - of dreams and possessions both. As they got older and learned the laws of property, the matter of my book and my dog and my gun became more distinct, and each distinction borne on the back of another slight and another fight and another bruised eye, until they all learned to be more sly in their counterattacks.

Bill could still remember the time David had ‘borrowed’ (his word) one of his golf clubs, the one that he knew he’d said once had a better drive, and chipped the finish, and he, in a fit of revenge, swept in before his brother could get a word in edgewise and asked the girl he knew David was sweet on for a dance at the club that evening. (There were some advantages to being older, when the cards were down, and being slightly taller and slightly more sophisticated and slightly more practiced in the ways of women were several.) David got a little more circumspect about sharing his feelings on women with his brothers after that, though there was nothing to be done to hide the many tells that Bill had learned from twenty years of careful observation.

That had been the start of his career in intelligence. The first way you must fight your enemy is by knowing him - his secrets, his vulnerabilities, his habits and his patterns. Careful intelligence is the first step in a successful campaign, and you must not begin your work without it.

He denied her requests in the most polite terms, watching as her expression turned more and more stormy seeing he would not let her go where she desired. "Your brother really didn't tell you anything about me," she said, finally, staring at him with a stony face.

Oh, no, Bill thought to himself, his smile invisible behind his annoyance and his rules and strictures, walking away and leaving her at the post. When he was completely unlike himself, he told me absolutely everything - and I will use that against you in whatever way I can.

What he did or said now, he knew, would matter very little - Eve Mansour would do whatever she was going to do, and there was nothing he could do to stop her. His opposition was a matter of formality only - a way to continue playing the role she'd assigned him. Other things required his time and attention and he would use those precious resources where they would do the most good. There were reports to review in his command post, maps to consult and plans to relay to Paddy Mayne, who was last seen hiking into the hills with his men to find, in his own words, a quieter place.

Bill collected his dispatches, checked in with his signals officer, and walked into the tent his men had erected as a command post ...only to find something there that he had completely failed to anticipate - a woman in her late twenties, wearing a faded black housedress, a handkerchief over her hair, and a man's jacket with thinning elbows, perfectly at her ease behind his desk.

"Good Christ!"

She looked up from her reading with a slight smile, pleased, it seemed, to be so discovered. "You know, if this is your idea of security, I shudder to think what the Germans are getting away with."

Her amusement annoyed him. "What are you doing here?"

Another smile. "I should have thought that was obvious. I'm reading your mail."

"Not that, what are you doing here?" The last time I saw you was in Scotland. "The security of the organisation," she said, smiling as she quoted one of his own lectures back to him, "as a whole depends on the security of individual agents. No member will be told more about the organisation than is necessary for him to do his job." He allowed her that small coup and remained silent. "I love the smell of sand and water," she said, rising from her seat and waiting for him to return the pass phrase - the one from their final assignment, the test to see if they were fit for the field. If he didn't know her, it would have mattered more - but she was doing as she'd been taught, and there was beauty in that. "But heather and stone is equally fine."

She nodded, niceties satisfied. "I've been up in the hills near Santa Christina making friends for the last year and a half. A little bird told me the British had finally landed."

"And you thought you'd just...come into an army camp alone for a little chat, hoping you knew someone?" The next line of the manual was near at hand: No member will attempt to find out more about the organisation than he is told.

"Italy is full of widows. No one notices a woman in black. And I had a good teacher."

"Grace," Bill warned.

The sound of her name - her real name - brought only the briefest flash of recognition, covered a moment later by practiced confusion with a touch of anger, and he realized that he had broken one of his own rules, drummed religiously into his students. The agent must not mention facts which he himself is not supposed to know. Sixteen months in the field - when, he wondered, had someone last called her that? Who here now would know that she had once belonged to the name? That was part of the training at Inverailort, to give up your name in place of a new one, a series of costumes and disguises that could be picked up and shed at the blink of an eye.

He could remember sitting behind a long table in the Great Hall, reading the dossier of the woman standing in front of them. Women's Royal Naval Service. Place of Residence, Margate. Parents occupation given as shopkeeper - place of birth, Campagna. Emigrated 1921. Fluent in Italian. Spadolo, Maria ...Grazia. The way his fellow lecturer read it aloud grated on the ear, and she quickly corrected him. "I've always gone by Grace, sir. No one can pronounce Grazia."

Already an alias, something to hide behind. A woman of no particular importance or charm, the sort you saw at shop counters and bus stops who only came to your attention if you were allowed a smile. Practically invisible - just the sort we need. Lynx, who was Benedetta, who was Livia Tormola, who was Ordinary Wren Grace Spadolo, from Margate.

A woman, he could see, who after more than a year in the field knew far too well how much all those names could protect her, the desperate necessity of the pass phrase. "Mi scusi, signore. Mi dispiace di averla offesa, ma il mio nome non è Grace." She pronounced the words quickly, as though she did not understand English, as she'd been taught to do in Scotland in case someone stopped her. "È Livia." He pursed his lips, a silent sign that he knew he'd been in the wrong. "The little bird also had orders for me to establish contact with you specifically - and with your man in the Etna circuit - Brutto. He's been out of radio contact and I have papers for him before he goes into Termoli - and updated intelligence."

"Intelligence?"

"A new brief. They have an leak. Someone's passing information to the authorities, and we need it stopped before you take the city. The man's clever, but only just. We have his name and he needs to be removed. Can you call him in?"

He had nearly opened up the flap of his tent to call for an orderly when he remembered security. "Someone could see you. You've no reason to be here. Your cover - "

She shrugged. "Italy is full of widows - and everyone knows soldiers will pay for anything." She chuckled at his shock that she'd even think to suggest that as a cover for her presence. "Surely Lieutenant Colonel Stirling is allowed a little vice." Her smile was soft and mischievous - the same smile he remembered from Scotland when she'd done particularly well on an assignment, outplayed the traps that other trainees had fallen into. Shopgirls from Margate knew more about how the world worked than debs who'd learned their Italian from nuns. "Perhaps it would help your reputation among your men."

"Livia." He remembered himself this time, using the name he was supposed to use.

"That is your cover now, isn't it? The ...unassailable commander?" Another one of her soft smiles. "Men talk an awful lot when their captains aren't listening. The man they were describing wasn't the one I knew in Scotland, who knew how to smile and take a joke."

He recalled the particulars of the lecture on covers - The story, being real, will be self-consistent. Records will confirm at least part of it. However, people acquainted with the person whom you are impersonating may give you away. "Inflexible martinets can't be seen with widows. Especially pretty ones."

"And pretty journalists?" Her amusement was almost infectious. "I saw some of your performance down at the harbor - the bit with the hair was quite good. Who is she, really?"

" Another spy - and my brother's lover." He sighed. "I didn't give her what she wanted, so I'm sure she'll be back later to try again."

"To seduce you?"

He considered Eve's bright scarf and stylish hat, a strong contrast to Grace's workaday dress and worn-down flats, gritty with dust from the road. No one had driven her to Bagnara - unless it had been on the back of a donkey cart. And the ways of her war were quite different to Eve's. But then, they'd had different teachers. "Most likely. She seduced David. Why should his older brother be any different?"

"He didn't tell her anything about you, then."

"No," he said, smiling as he did so. "He didn't tell anyone."

His mind was made up. He strode over to the tent flap, opened it wide, and didn't care at all when his batman turned around and saw a woman in the shadows of the tent. "Lofty, where is Sergeant Riley? I want to catch him before he goes."

Lofty's eyes were politely wide. "I think he's up at 1SAS, sir. Something about rum."

Paddy Mayne's 'quiet place' was some ten minutes out of town, amidst a tumbled-down farmhouse that had quickly been turned into a slapdash camp, supplies and packs tossed where their owners had found level ground.

Only McDiarmid stood up when he saw them approaching, snapping his heels together with a great goofy grin on his face and saluting with parade ground polish from underneath a very non- uniform issue fedora. "Lieutenant Colonel Bill, sir! Boots still in tip-top shape, I see." His gaze moved on to Grace beside him - the bedraggled but still winsome Italian farmwife, her kerchief tucked into her pocket after it had nearly blown away in the jeep, dark curls escaping their pins. "And you brought a friend. Well, hello, sweeting, and who are you?" He stroked a piece of hay off of her coat collar. "Bill showing you a nice time?"

It was like something out of a training script- in less time than it took to breathe, she had seized his hand, and wrenched his arm around behind his back, to the absolute awe of everyone who'd seen it, her English perfect and unmistakable - "Touch me again, trooper, and you'll lose more than your shirt."

The men were staring, and Bill had a hard time keeping his well-deserved smile to himself. "This is Livia Tormola, one of our operatives here in Italy." She let McDiarmid go, and the big man stepped quickly away, flexing his fingers. "She's here to speak to Riley."

"Where the fuck did you learn to do that, girl?" Jock was nursing a sore wrist and an even more sore ego.

Grace scoffed. "On my combatives course, the same as you." She glanced over at Bill, a slight smile creeping to her lips. "Colonel Stirling was an excellent teacher for hand-to-hand gutter fighting."

All eyes turned to tall, weedy Lieutenant Colonel Stirling, who was not his brother and had, as far as they were aware, stolen no glory, thrown no bombs and killed no men. What else has this man done that we are unaware of? What reputations have we not seen?

Paddy's sneered retort in the prison bathroom, the angry glint in his one unbattered eye as the two of them squared off, the dirty decorated brawler and the shiny lord's son - As far as I'm aware, you don't have a reputation.

How he'd wanted to smile then, staring down his brother's mad dog. No, Major Mayne, you are right. I am known for nothing. I am not my father, who was known for plans, and I am not my brother, who is known for daring, and I am not you, Paddy Mayne, who is feted for madness and swift rage. My reputation is only among those who trained with me and to them I was a good liar and a ghost and a knife in the dark, and I taught them all to be the same.

I am completely unknown to you - and that is just as I want it, because that means I will be whatever I allow you to see of me - the older brother, put upon for command, eclipsed and overlooked and angry about it, a man who has earned none of what he has, a wall to bash your fists against.

That is what my brother has told me you require to win, so that is exactly what I will be for you. For myself, I am someone else entirely.

And that's just as I've planned it.

---

Any errors in Grace's Italian are entirely mine and Duolingo's. The manual Grace and Bill are quoting is the SOE Operations Manual from the course at Beaulieu, which you can read online at archive.org.

A big thank you to the several friends who let me complain about this for the last two weeks and wrote me permission slips.

[giiiinabaker]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C__SGEAAJaW/?igsh=Y3FlOWxqODJ2eG05

[ktredshoes]

@precious-little-scoundrel Julie Jean Turner vibes!

February 18, 1942: "Lana Turner Spurs Bond Sales! The lovely film star does a land office business for Defense, autographing every purchase . . . and for service men, a special dividend, a real Hollywood clinch!"

[efemmera-archive]

A Comprehensive List of Pre-21st Century Lesbian Films

There seems to be a lot of interest in older/more niche films with lesbian themes so I've been putting together this list. I'm going to keep adding to it as I find more films so feel free to let me know if I'm missing anything! Enjoy!

Quick disclaimer: Some of these films contain problematic elements such as racism, homophobia, sexism and so on. This list is not an endorsement of all these films, it is only for archival purposes. As I have not seen all these films I cannot provide accurate content warnings, so please do your own research before watching.

1880 - 1919

The Kiss (1882), Dir. Eadweard Muybridge [SHORT, SILENT, ZOOPRAXISCOPE]

Pierrette’s Escapades (1900), Dir. Alice Guy [SHORT, SILENT, HAND TINTED]

At the Floral Ball (1900), Dir. Alice Guy [SHORT, SILENT, HAND TINTED]

Midwife to the Upper Class (1902), Dir. Alice Guy [SHORT, SILENT, COMEDY]

The Jester’s Joke (1910), Dir. Walter R. Booth [SHORT, SILENT, COMEDY]

Zapata’s Gang (1914), Dir. Urban Gad [SILENT, CRIME, COMEDY]

Filibus (1915), Dir. Mario Roncoroni [SILENT, HEIST, ACTION]

1920-1939

Manslaughter (1922), Dir. Cecil B. Demil [SILENT, DRAMA]

The Girl in Tails (1926), Dir. Karin Swanstrom [SILENT, COMEDY]

Wings (1927), Dir. William A. Wellman [SILENT, WAR, ACTION]

Pandora’s Box (1929), Dir. G.W. Pabst [SILENT, DRAMA]

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), Dir. G.W. Pabst [SILENT, DRAMA]

Morocco (1930), Dir. Josef von Sternberg [DRAMA, ROMANCE]

Mädchen in Uniform (1931), Dir. Leontine Sagan [DRAMA, COMING OF AGE]

Queen Christina (1933), Dir. Rouben Mamoulian [DRAMA, PERIOD]

Dragnet Girl (1933), Dir. Yasujirō Ozu [CRIME]

Fukujuso (1935), Dir. Jiro Kawate [SILENT, DRAMA]

The Tomboy (1936), Dir. Jean de Limur [DRAMA]

Girls’ Club (1936), Dir. Jacques Deval [COMEDY, CRIME]

1940-1959

Jenny Lamour (1947), Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot [CRIME, DRAMA]

Thirst (1949), Dir. Ingmar Bergman [DRAMA]

Caged (1950), Dir. John Cromwell [DRAMA]

Girl with Hyacinths (1950), Dir. Hasse Ekman [MYSTERY, NOIR]

Olivia (1951), Dir. Jacqueline Audry [DRAMA]

No Exit (1954), Dir. Jacqueline Audry [DRAMA]

La Garçonne (1957), Dir. Jacqueline Audry [DRAMA]

The Twilight Girls (1957), Dir. Andre Hunebelle [COMEDY, DRAMA]

Mädchen in Uniform (1958), Dir. Geza von Radvanyi [DRAMA, COMING OF AGE, REMAKE]

1960-1969

Blood and Roses (1960), Dir. Roger Vadim [VAMPIRE, HORROR, EROTIC]

Léon Morin, Priest (1961), Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville [DRAMA]

The Girl with the Golden Eyes (1961) Dir. Jean-Gabriel Albicocco [DRAMA]

The Children’s Hour (1961), Dir. WIlliam Wyler [DRAMA]

Walk on the Wild Side (1962), Dir. Edward Dymitrik [DRAMA]

Manji (1964), Dir. Yasuzo Masumura [DRAMA]

With Beauty and Sorrow (1965), Dir. Masahiro Shinoda [DRAMA]

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), Dir. Russ Meyer [EXPLOITATION]

Daisies (1966), Dir. Věra Chytilová [AVANT GARDE, COMEDY, DRAMA]

The Group (1966), Dir. Sidney Lumet [DRAMA]

La Religieuse (1966), Dir. Jacques Rivette [DRAMA]

Persona (1966), Dir. Ingmar Bergman [AVANT GARDE, PSYCHOLOGICAL, DRAMA]

Belle De Jour (1967), Dir. Luis Bunuel [DRAMA]

The Fox (1967), Dir. Mark Rydell [DRAMA]

Les Biches (1968), Dir. Clauthde Chabrol [DRAMA, EROTIC]

The Killing of Sister George (1968), Dir. Robert Aldrich [DRAMA, EXPLOITATION]

Therese and Isabelle (1968), Dir. Radley Metzger [ROMANCE, DRAMA, EROTIC]

The Girl from Pussycat (1969), Dir. Smythe David [SEXPLOITATION]

Check to the Queen (1969), Dir. Pasquale Festa Campanile [DRAMA, EROTIC]

The Others (1969), Dir. Renzo Maietto [DRAMA]

1970-1979

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), Dir. Jaromil Jires [AVANT GARDE, DRAMA, COMING OF AGE]

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), Dir. Russ Meyer [COMEDY, MUSICAL, MELODRAMA]

Midnight Virgin (1970), Dir. Shogoro Nishimura [DRAMA, EROTIC]

The Conformist (1970), Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci [POLITICAL DRAMA]

Multiple Maniacs (1970), Dir. John Waters [COMEDY]

The Dark Side of Tomorrow (1970), Dir. Jack Deerson, Barbara Peeters [DRAMA]

Nightmares Come at Night (1970), Dir. Jesús Franco [DRAMA]

The Vampire Lovers (1970), Dir. Roy Ward Baker [VAMPIRE, HORROR, EROTIC]

The Shiver of the Vampires (1971), Dir. Jean Rollin [VAMPIRE, EROTIC]

Girl Slaves of Morgana Le Fay (1971), Dir. Bruno Gantillon [EROTIC]

Daughters of Darkness (1971), Dir. Harry Kumel [VAMPIRE, EROTIC]

Vampyros Lesbos (1971), Dir. Jesús Franco [VAMPIRE, EXPLOITATION, EROTIC]

Daughter of Dracula (1972), Dir. Jesús Franco [VAMPIRE, EROTIC]

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972), Dir. Chor Yuen [MARTIAL ARTS, DRAMA, EROTIC]

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder [DRAMA]

The Beguines (1972), Dir. Guy Casaril [DRAMA, EROTIC]

Don Juan or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973), Dir. Roger Vadim [DRAMA, EROTIC]

Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1974), Dir. Richard Blackburn [HORROR, COMING OF AGE]

Vampyres (1974), Dir. Jose Ramon Larraz [VAMPIRE, EXPLOITATION, EROTIC]

Foxy Brown (1974), Dir. Jack Hill [BLAXPLOITATION, ACTION]

Je Tu Il Elle (1974), Dir. Chantal Ackerman [DRAMA]

Black Emanuelle (1975), Dir. Bitto Albertini [SEXPLOITATION]

Successive Slidings of Pleasure (1974), Dir. Alain Robbe-Grillet [HORROR, AVANT GARDE, EROTIC]

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975), Dir. Peter Weir [MYSTERY, DRAMA]

Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1977), Dir. Mariposa Film Group, et. al [DOCUMENTARY]

Bilitis (1977), Dir. David Hamilton [EROTIC]

Alucarda (1977), Dir. Juan López Moctezuma [VAMPIRE, HORROR, EXPLOITATION]

Fascination (1979), Dir. Jean Rollin [VAMPIRE, HORROR, EROTIC]

See Here My Love (1979), Dir. Hugo Santiago [MYSTERY, DRAMA]

1980-1989

Simone Barbes or Virtue (1980), Dir. Marie-Claude Treilhou [DRAMA]

Personal Best (1982), Dir. Robert Towne [SPORTS, DRAMA]

Scrubbers (1982), Dir. Mai Zetterling [DRAMA]

The Living Dead Girl (1982), Dir. Jean Rollin [ZOMBIE, HORROR]

Audience (1982), Dir. Barbara Hammer [DOCUMENTARY]

The Hunger (1983), Dir. Tony Scott [VAMPIRE]

Lianna (1983), Dir. John Sayles [DRAMA]

La Pirate (1984), Dir. Jacques Doillon [DRAMA]

Desert Hearts (1985), Dir. Donna Deitch [ROMANCE, DRAMA]

Anne Trister (1986), Dir. Lea Pool [DRAMA]

Kamikaze Hearts (1986), Dir. Juliet Bashore [DOCUFICTION]

Working Girls (1986), Dir. Lizzie Borden [DRAMA]

I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987), Dir. Patricia Rozema [COMEDY]

No No Nooky T.V. (1987), Dir. Barbara Hammer [COMEDY, SHORT]

1990-1999

The Company of Strangers (1990) Dir. Cynthia Scott [DOCUFICTION]

Salmonberries (1991), Dir. Percy Adlon [DRAMA]

Thelma & Louise (1991), Dir. Ridley Scott [CRIME, DRAMA]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Dir. David Lynch [HORROR, AVANT GARDE]

Nitrate Kisses (1992), Dir. Barbara Hammer [DOCUMENTARY]

Flaming Ears (1992), Dir. A. Hans Scheirl, Dietmar Schipek, and Ursula Pürrer [AVANT GARDE, SCI-FI]

Fresh Kill (1994), Dir. Shu Lea Cheang [SCI-FI, AVANT GARDE]

Heavenly Creatures (1994), Dir. Peter Jackson [CRIME, THRILLER, BIOPIC]

Go Fish (1994), Dir. Rose Troche [COMEDY, DRAMA, ROMANCE]

The Maidens of Heavenly Mountains (1994), Dir. Andy Chin Wing-Keung [WUXIA]

The Celluloid Closet (1995), Dir. Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman [DOCUMENTARY]

The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), Dir. Maria Maggenti [COMEDY, DRAMA]

When Night is Falling (1995), Dir. Patricia Rozema [DRAMA]

BloodSisters: Leather, Dykes, and Sadomasochism (1995), Dir. Michelle Handelman [DOCUMENTARY]

Bound (1996), Dir. The Wachowskis [CRIME, THRILLER]

The Watermelon Woman (1996), Dir. Cheryl Dunye [ROMANCE, DRAMA, COMEDY]

Irma Vep (1996), Dir. Olivier Assayas [DRAMA]

Nowhere (1997), Dir. Gregg Araki [BLACK COMEDY, DRAMA]

Gia (1998), Dir. Michael Cristopher [BIOPIC]

High Art (1998), Dir. Lisa Cholodenko [DRAMA]

Election (1999), Dir. Alexander Payne [COMEDY]

Being John Malkovich (1999), Dir. Spike Jonze [COMEDY, FANTASY]

But I’m A Cheerleader (1999), Dir. Jamie Babbit [ROMANCE, COMEDY]

Adolescence of Utena (1999), Dir. Kunihiko Ikuhara [ANIME, DRAMA, COMING OF AGE]

[longwuzhere]

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Easter Eggs

Welcome to another week of My Adventures with Superman! My hunch about the what happened last week was true and things are not going too well for the gang...

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 9 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 10 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

Spoilers if you haven't seen the episode

To start things off we meet Kara on Earth! I talked more about her here. Shes's dressed similarly to Android 18 when she, 17, and 16 drive to Goku's house in episode 147 of Dragon Ball Z. While watching the episode I was wondering why does Kara's hair look so familiar? Then it hit me. Kara's got Sakuya Kumashiro's hair from Tenchi in Tokyo!

Shout out to recent DC characters enjoy ice cream for the first time like Wonder Woman in the live action movie and Justice League animated movie, and the new DC Super Hero Girls cartoon. As a mint chocolate chip ice cream fan, good first choice of ice cream to enjoy!

Perry puts Clark and Lois on a new beat for the Metropolis "Most Eligible Single" contest because Superman was chosen to be one of the five up for that title. Cat Grant self-invites herself to join the duo to figure out who Superman is through his love life. Lois is sweating bullets at this point. At the contest we meet the potential people for winning the title, Hank Henshaw, Chandi Gupta, Byrna Brilyant, and Silver St. Cloud. I talked more about Hank Henshaw here. We see a darker more bigoted side to him this time around. Will we see him get his cyborg body and become Cyborg Superman in this season or season 3? Who knows. Season 3 is confirmed though.

Dr. Byrna Brilyant is a very deep DC universe cut dating back to 1946, the golden age of comics. Back then Byrna Brilyant was an enemy to Wonder Woman going by the moniker, Blue Snowman.

Byrna in the 1940s makes her first appearance in Sensation Comics #59 (1946) [W: Joye Hummel, P&I: H.G. Peter], where she was a teacher who's father created this compound called blue ice, after his death, she uses it as a way to extort this town after freezing it over for monetary gain.

Byrna makes another appearance in 2010 in Power Girl #7 (2010) [W Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti, P&I: Amanda Conner, C: Paul Mounts, L: John J. Hill] where Dr. Mid-Nite and Power Girl are trying to stop Byrna from committing a robbery but the main bad guy, Vartox shoots a seduction musk rifle at Power Girl but the smell knocks out Dr. Mid-Nite and it works on Byrna, but not Power Girl. This all makes more sense if you read the comic.

Byrna's next appearance post-New 52 was in Superman/Wonder Woman #4 (2014) [W: Charles Soule, P: Paulo Siqueira, I&C: Hi-Fi, L: Carlos M. Mangual] where we see Wonder Woman and Hessia battling the Blue Snowman robots.

Byrna's latest appearance post-DC Rebirth is in DC: Love is a Battlefield #1 (2021) [W: Crystal Fraiser, P&I: Juan Gedeon, C:Ulises Arreola, L: Marshal Dillion, where Byrna is now gender fluid after interrupting a date between Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. Good on Wonder Woman for letting them go and hoping the realization there is a word for what Byrna was feeling would make them feel much better. So going forward if we meet Byrna again, I'll be referring to them with they/them pronouns, but if its New 52 continuity and before, Byrna will be referred to with she/her pronouns with the continuities to help clarify the pronoun usages.

Chadi Gupta is also another deep cut from the DC universe because she's reference to her comic counterpart from Justice League Europe.

Chandi makes her first appearance in Justice League Europe #47 (1993) [W: Gerard Joes, P: Ron Randall, I: Randy Elliot, C: Gene D'Angelo, L: Willie Schubert] where she's escaping her family and comes across the the JLE and wants to join them. Her energy projection and construct creation powers came in handy for the JLE in issue 50 where she and the rest of the JLE were able to fend off Sonar's attack and that earned her a spot on Justice League Europe as the superhero Maya.

Silver St. Cloud is probably one of the more prominent characters from the DC universe who showed up in MAwS. She got into the pop culture zeitgeist through the Gotham tv show when it aired.

Silver St. Cloud makes her first appearance in Detective Comics #470 (1977) [W: Steven Engleheart, P: Walter Simonson, I: Al Milgrom, C: Jerry Serpe, L: Ben Oda] where she meets Bruce Wayne at a party on his yacht. She eventually becomes one of Bruce Wayne's more prominent love interests and one of the few who were suspecting Bruce to be Batman thanks to his constant disappearing.

She shows up in post-new 52 in the maybe possibly out of cotinuity anthology, Legends of the Dark Knight (2014) digital comics, specifically as a cameo in issue #50, Dr. Quinn's Diagnosis [W: Jim Zub, P&I: Niel Googe, C: Kathryn Layno, L: Saida Temofonte], where Batman is getting psychoanalyzed by Harley Quinn.

If you want to read a comic with a fun appearance of Silver St. Cloud give Batman/Elmer Fudd Special #1 (2017) [W: Tom King, P&I: Lee Weeks, C: Lovern Kindzierski, L: Deron Bennet] a read cuz goddamn is it noir AF and beautifully drawn (a while back DC superheroes crossed over with Looney Tunes characters and its very good. They have also done it with Hanna Barbera characters as well. Give those a read too! They're all fun!)!

The charity that MAwS Silver mentions was first mentioned in Superman #152 (1967) [W: Bill Finger, P&I: Al Plastino] where Superman is accepting a clock medallion for a charity event. In the comics Silver St. Cloud isn't usually working for charities, shes mostly a Gotham socialite.

At the event, the MC (who gives off Funky Flashman vibes imo), asked if anyone has questions and the first to jump on that was George Taylor of the Metropolis Star. I talked about the Metropolis Star here, but for George Taylor...

he actually makes his first appearance here in Action Comics #1 (1938) [W: Jerry Seigel, P&I: Joe Shuster, C: Strauss Engraving Company] where he is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Star.

In the silver age, George Taylor makes his first appearance in Superman #366 (1981) [W: Bob Eozakis, P: Kurt Schaffenberger, I: Frank Chiaramonte, C: Adrienne Roy, L: John Costanza] where he assigns Perry White on the Superboy scoop to see if he's active in Metropolis. In post-Crisis on Infinite continuity, George makes a cameo appearance in Adventures of Superman #451 (1989) [W,P,&I: Jerry Ordway, C: Glenn Whitmoore, L: Albert DeGuzman] where we see George's office door.

In the New 52 continuity, George Taylor makes his first appearance in Action Comics #8 (2012) [W: Grant Morrison, P: Rags Morales, I: Rick Bryant, C: Brad Anderson, L: Pat Brosseau] as editor-in-chief for the Daily Star where in the comic he's proud of Clark and encourages him to take the job at the Daily Planet.

Kara and Jimmy make it into the studio where Lois, Superman, and Cat Grant are and Kara confronts Superman showing off that she's the one in the armor. She is on a two-way radio communications with someone named Primus. Whether that is Brainiac's designation when Kara is on the field or its a different character all together, there is a Primus in the DC universe, not just in the Transformers universe. Btw this isn't Kara's first time siding with an evil faction, she was part of Darkseid's Female Furies in the 2004 Superman/Batman series, specifically in issue #11. You might have also seen it happen in the Superman/Batman: Apocalypse animated movie too.

Primus aka Pren makes his first appearance in Green Lantern #141 (1981) [W: Marv Wolfman, P&I: Joe Stanton, C: Carl Gafford, L: John Costanza] where he is the leader of the alien group, the Omega Men from the Vega star system. They jump Hal when he and Carol Ferris were on vacation thinking Hal is part of the Citadel, an extraterrestrial empire that is conquering the star system the Omega Men are in.

Primus/Pren NuParr makes his New 52 first appearance in Deathstroke #9 (2012), but gets a more prominent role in the Omega Man limited series from 2015 [panel from The Omega Men #1 (2015) W: Tom King, P&I: Barnaby Bagenda, C: Romulo Farjardo Jr., L: Pat Brosseau]. In this continuity, the Citadel is now a corporation that was exploiting Krypton's destruction by by selling stabilized planet cores to other worlds. This comes at a cost where the Vega star system is enslaved by them and those who resisted we killed and the survivors formed the Omega Men.

And with that another episodes Easter eggs and references are done! Come back next week to see what episode 6's Easter eggs and references are! In case you missed it:

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 9 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 10 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

[gatabella]

Lana Turner, early 1940s

"That 'glamour' is something created strictly by the camera. I don't have it and when I meet men who have seen me only on the screen, they're obviously let down. I'm not the sort of girl who likes to go to night spots all done up to my teeth. I'm not the sort photographers gang around. It just doesn't happen. By glamour, I mean Lana Turner. She is glamorous."

-Ava Gardner, Silver Screen magazine, April 1951

[justforbooks]

Stieg Larsson

His Millennium trilogy was a worldwide hit. But to the Swedish author, it was only ever a sideshow to his true life’s work: fighting fascism, racism and rightwing extremism

It is a relatively well-known fact that the author of the bestselling and most widely known Nordic noir crime series of all time never got to witness his own success. Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson died of a sudden heart attack 20 years ago this week, aged only 50, before the publication of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and the Millennium trilogy that followed.

What is less well known is that on the day of his death (9 November 2004), Larsson was due to give a lecture on the Nazis’ November pogrom at the headquarters of the Workers’ Educational Association in Stockholm. Kristallnacht, “the night of broken glass”, was an important date in Larsson’s calendar, which he commemorated every year. To him, it epitomised the abyss of far-right extremism he spent his life fighting.

Larsson’s life as an antifascist activist has been increasingly overlooked in the wake of his books’ phenomenal global success. One of Sweden’s most lucrative literary exports, the Millennium series has sold more than 100m copies across its various titles, according to publisher Norstedts. The novels have since been adapted into a number of Swedish TV films, a Hollywood blockbuster starring Daniel Craig, and expanded into two further trilogies by two other authors.

“And yet, the trilogy is only one episode in Stieg’s journey through the world, and it certainly isn’t his life’s work”, his life partner, Eva Gabrielsson, wrote back in 2011 in her memoir. Gabrielsson refers to the “Stieg of the ‘Millennium industry’” as being created after his death. The Larsson she knew was an unwavering antifascist – a deeply rooted conviction that shines through passage after passage of his page-turning crime thrillers.

Two decades on, the novels read like a gloomy premonition of Sweden’s political landscape to come, with the far-right Sweden Democrats a de facto part of the governing coalition since 2022. Larsson exposed the undemocratic underbelly of a country usually associated with Scandinavian exceptionalism rather than murderous Nazis. It was a side of Swedish society he knew all too well as a journalist.

In The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a suspenseful whodunnit set on a fictional Swedish island inhabited by a wealthy industrialist family, Nazi pasts are never far beneath the surface of the plot. The Vanger brothers – Richard, Harald and Greger – were all members of the extreme right organisation New Sweden, with Harald becoming a “key contributor to the hibernating Swedish fascist movement”. The investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist later finds photos of Greger with Sven Olov Lindholm, a Swedish Nazi leader in the 1940s. And the fascist ideology of Richard – grandfather of the missing Harriet and her vicious brother Martin – led him to the Finnish trenches in the second world war.

In the sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, we find the biker gang Svavelsjö MC (whose logo features a Celtic cross, a symbol common among white supremacy groups) at the centre of a sex trafficking ring. The gang is well connected with the organised extreme right: its number two, Sonny Nieminen, has had dealings with neo-Nazi groups such as the Aryan Brotherhood and the Nordic Resistance Movement while in prison. Lisbeth Salander’s nemesis and, as it turns out, brother – a giant brute who feels no pain called Ronald Niedermann – was part of a skinhead gang in the 1980s in Hamburg, we are told; it’s a nod to a nascent far-right subculture in Germany responsible for arson attacks and murders.

And in Larsson’s final novel, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, Blomkvist and Salander expose a shadowy clique within Swedish intelligence called “the Section”, comprised of members of the extreme right Democratic Alliance. “Within the Section this was no obstacle,” we learn. “The Section had in fact been instrumental in the very formation of the group.”

While the Millennium trilogy touches on many themes, especially violence against women (the original Swedish title Larsson insisted on for the first novel translates as “Men who hate women”), Larsson condemned the Swedish far right’s influence at all levels of society.

These convictions were rooted in his biography. His grandfather, with whom he grew up with in the icy north of Sweden, was an anti-Nazi communist imprisoned in an internment camp during the second world war. The grandfather would recount the horrors of the November pogrom, leaving a lasting impression on the young Larsson, himself a committed activist, first in the anti-Vietnam war movement, then in Maoist and Trotskyist circles. But it was Larsson’s commitment against the far right that would shape his politics for the bulk of his life.

In 1979, Larsson joined the Swedish news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå, where he spent the next 20 years of his modest career as a low-level journalist. But as rightwing extremists began robbing banks, stealing weapons and murdering people in Sweden in the mid-1980s, Larsson became the agency’s go-to expert.

From 1983, he began writing for the British antifascist magazine Searchlight as a Stockholm correspondent. In 1991 he co-authored a Swedish-language book on rightwing extremism. And over the years he penned numerous reports and articles on contemporary antisemitism and the far right for organisations and institutes in Israel, Belgium and France.

A pivotal moment came in 1995. Larsson co-founded the Expo Foundation, which publishes a quarterly magazine on racism, antisemitism and the far right to this day. By 1999, it had become his day job. It was a calling that came at great personal cost, landing him on neo-Nazi hitlists. He received bullets by post. Colleagues were targeted through shootings or car bombs. According to Gabrielsson, it was for security reasons that they did not marry, leaving her without inheritance rights under Swedish law.

“Stieg was a nerd at heart, but there was a certain machismo to covering the far right in the 90s,” says Daniel Poohl, head of the Expo Foundation since 2005. “It was men researching dangerous other men and sometimes that meant having a baseball bat to protect yourself. Because that’s what you do when you feel that you’re on your own.”

Poohl is sitting in the first floor office of Expo in a nondescript block in a residential neighbourhood in Stockholm. Framed covers of the compact, stylish magazine, which today has 7,000 subscribers, adorn the wall behind him. In the next room, the 14 staff members are busy planning the coming issue, page drafts of which are plastered on the wall.

It’s hard not to think of Larsson’s fictional investigative publication Millennium, with which there are plenty of parallels in the novels. “A lot of people have said to me that Millennium is basically Expo,” says Poohl. “But it’s not. Millennium was the ultimate dream magazine. Stieg was a bad businessman, so it would never work in real life.”

The success of the novels, which Larsson wrote in his spare time, has partly helped the foundation, however. A representative of Larsson’s estate said that the holding company that controls it has donated a total of over 40 million Swedish kronor (£2.9 million) over the years, which “have clearly been crucial for Expo’s activities.” .

Poohl from Expo confirmed that the foundation received one off payments, as well as an additional yearly support from the Larssons for a period and a cut of the fourth novel in the series, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, published in 2015 and authored by David Lagercrantz.

“People sometimes think we received a lot of money through the books, but it’s less than they think,” he says. “We’re thankful for the financial support that we have received during the years. But the royalty agreement has since ended.” Poohl adds: “The sad part is that Stieg didn’t get to use his fame to further his political work.” Joakim Larsson, his brother, declined an interview request due to health reasons. Gabrielsson, now 70, didn’t respond to multiple interview requests.

With the electoral success of the far-right Sweden Democrats, a party rooted in Swedish nazism, Larsson’s political nightmare has in many ways come true. “He tried to show that they weren’t simply a gang of madmen plotting to infiltrate Swedish society … but a real political movement that had to be combated through political means,” wrote Gabrielsson back in 2011. The “Millennium millions”, as a Swedish documentary has called the fortune made through the trilogy, would have undeniably been a big boost to his other life’s work.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[pumpkinsy0]

Steve hcs if u pls😘🙏🏽

steve randle,,,,my guy,,,

•ok look, i dont think many ppl know but i just hc’d my steve to b nigerian!!!he was still born in the us and the reason why his family moved to the us is bc nigeria gained independence in 1960, but before that, especially in the 1940s-1950s, there was a spike in political unrest, so before steve was born, they moved to the us!!! bc of different factors hes not THAG connected to his culture

•steve didnt try to convince soda to stay in school, he just wanted to support soda in anyway he could and if soda thought that was the better option, he’ll just rude along w him, the first few months was kinda hard tho

•he was that kid who would actively try to freak out the girls, #1 cooties believer, u couldnt get him CLOSSEEEE to a girl when he was like 7-10

•steves chipped his teeth MULTIPLE times bc of different guys from the gang, he can also use the gap in his teeth and whistle w it, nobody but soda and evie know that tho

•nigerians r funny as hell w their insults, ik ponys felt embarrassed bc steves insult and the gang all laughed😭

•johnnys denim jacket is steves, he just gave it to him bc he knew johnny gets way colder than him faster and wanted johnny to have SOMETHING, but he also feels this sort of guilt bc part of y johnnys injuries were so bad was bc the jacket caught fire, it was pretty flammable

•this guy can crack damn near every point in his body, including his nose, and it freaks everyone out, at some point, u need to not b able to do that

•steve canonically only works as a PART TIME employee, bc hes still going to school, sodas a full time, so sometimes, steve has to leave work early and sodas just,,,left on his own and its so BORING, but then steve comes back when he can

•as he grows up, steves shitty stick and poke tattoo just looks worse and yknow what??? hes glad his dark skin can cover that up a bit, cause WOW if he was pale hes just done for

•right after darry, its steve who can hit hard as hell, like HARD, like my christ man they need u to be a boxer😭

[agirlnamedbone]

from Morris Huberland's "Girl Gang" series // 1940s/1950s // New York Public Library collection

[lijep-vampir]

10-03-2025:

Fleshing out an idea for a new character/story. I've been reading "The Godfather" recently, and that, combined with a guilty pleasure for mafia/organized crime media, served as the inspiration for this character.

I've decided to call him Anastasio Valentino. He's a young Sicilian-American man whose father is the Don of a Family in NYC circa the 1940s (his character is heavily inspired by Michael Corleone, if you couldn't tell). He is a source of shame in his family, mostly bc he won't settle down and marry a nice Italian girl, but also bc he was rendered entirely mute after surviving an attempt on his life by a rival gang (hence the scar on his throat). Despite quickly becoming entirely fluent in ASL and LIS after his accident, his muteness causes many people to either be terrified of him, or to treat him like an especially stupid child.

Another reason for his ostracization within his own family is his treatment of women. He is berated for being too kind and gets called all sorts of degrading names bc he refuses to be a source of terror in women's lives, especially after being the victim to male violence himself. As such, he is extremely popular with the ladies for his gentle nature and tragically handsome figure, but alas, he only has eyes for other men.

He's still a MAJOR work in progress, but I'd like to eventually make some comics for him.. even though that will be a fuckin pain in my ass lol

[uozlulu]

Okay I've got two very similar but different Dandadan fics in my head and I can't decide which to do. I'm actually surprised a variation of one of these ideas hasn't made it onto the English side of AO3 tbh. I've also got a a couple other ideas which I probably won't do first because they're not as fleshed out as the others to me.

Anyway, all of these are kind of in the still fleshing it out stage in my brain. I'm hoping writing them down might get my brain to flesh something out enough to run with it.

Concept 1: Okarun is actually the actor Ken Takakura who time traveled from the late 1940's to Japan of the 2020's. He doesn't believe in ghosts because time traveling to a place where he's already dead means he doesn't want to come across his own ghost. This is part of why Okarun will be able to utilize that out of body experience stuff as a power because his soul is a bit loosey goosey at the moment. Momo is both shocked and a bit !!!! because it was already weird when Okarun had the same name as her favorite actor but now it's just hella weird (but she's not opposed to this). Unfortunately, Okarun does indeed have to eventually return to the late 40's. The fic ends with Turbokarun making it so Okarun and Momo can reunite several decades into the future once Okarun finishes the lifespan of the actor.

Concept 2: Okarun isn't the actor he's named after his mother's favorite actor. Okarun is a time traveler from 2002, which is why he has a flip phone. One night, Momo and the girls are watching a show about missing people. A man who's in his 40's or 50's talks about his little brother who disappeared decades ago. They realize the missing person is Okarun. Okarun admits he's been here for only a few months before Momo became his friend. He's been kind of rolling with all of this. He lives alone. He's been using his own bank account which has been accruing interest for the past 20 or so years. He doesn't want to bother his family about this. He doesn't think they'll believe him. He was always more interested in aliens than his brother and parents were. Not sure what the ending is.

Concept 3: Momo is an alien and Okarun is a ghost. Seiko found Momo in a peach blossom or maybe St. Germaine is Momo's dad and he found her and brought her to Seiko. Okarun is either a) the ghost of the actor who's been dead for the whole time Okarun has been "alive" or b) just a ghost of some random kid or c) one of the two but he can hop into dead bodies and so this isn't the body he started with. Not sure how this one plays out or ends yet.

Concept 4: Okarun misses class, the gang goes to his house and finds out he actually lives alone. Not sure where this one goes or if possibly it's part of one of the concept 1 or 2 fics.

[pluckyredhead]

My Favorite Comics of 2023

Sometimes I think I should review all the comics I read as I read them. Then I realize I read like...40 comics a month and decide to not do that. But I figured I could at least round up my favorite books of 2023!

So as not to bury the lede...

My Favorite Comic of 2023: Green Arrow

Was there ever any question? All I have ever wanted for like 20 years at this point is Arrowfamily shenanigans, and this book has been all about reassembling the gang and letting them romp through the DC universe. This is an Ollie who is overflowing with love and bad ideas, and that's perfect. Every character and relationship has gotten a chance to shine so far, and I can't wait until they bring the girls in. I especially love how clear it is that Roy is Williamson and Izaakse's favorite. ME TOO, GUYS, ME TOO. The fact that this is now an ongoing instead of a limited series is the best gift DC could have given me.

The rest of my faves...

Alan Scott: The Green Lantern: I did not expect to be as moved by this book as I am. The overall plot is a bit hard to follow, but that's not really the point of the comic. What blows me away every issue is how unflinching and occasionally brutal the book is in its portrayal of 1940s-era homophobia, including Alan's internalized self-hatred, and yet how simultaneously incredibly kind the book is. The love and validation, especially in #2 and #3, is so generous and beautiful. Also, it's the best and most beautiful I've ever see Cian Tormey's art look - he gives everything such a hazy, heartbreaking softness here. Please read this book.

Batman/Superman: World's Finest: This continues to be one of the most enjoyable books DC is putting out right now. Mora is one of those artists, like Doc Shaner, who draws the DC universe exactly 100% the way it looks in my hindbrain, and Waid is absolutely in his sweet spot of classic heroes, Silver Age lore, and extremely comic book-y adventure. Plus, Tamra Bonvillain is doing that thing she does with colors that taps directly into the happiness center of my brain - they are so rich and sunny and joyful.

Birds of Prey: I love everything Kelly Thompson writes and I'm so glad we finally have her at DC. She is the absolute perfect writer for this book, too - she gives such good superheroine. The banter! The action! The way she mixes and matches her cast in such fun combinations! Leonardo Romero's layouts are so kinetic and fun, and Jordie Bellaire's colors, YOU GUYS, JORDIE BELLAIRE'S FUNKY SEVENTIES COLORS! I can hear the soundtrack of this book. Love love love.

The Flash: To be clear, I mean the Jeremy Adams run that ended earlier this year with #800. I will forever be salty that DC canceled this delightful book, which was all of the action and humor and heart and love of continuity that I crave in comics, in favor of the so far completely mid Spurrier series. RIP Adams run, you were too good for this world.

Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville: This book got off to a slightly slow start, in my opinion, but every issue just gets better and better. It is so funny, and I want Natacha Bustos to design every outfit I ever wear for the rest of my life. Plus, Tamra Bonvillain is doing the color thing here, too! I want to live in her world.

Poison Ivy: I trust G. Willow Wilson with my life. This is such a good, complex, nuanced take on Ivy. (Also messy and poly and queer.) I have no idea where this story is going but I'm on this ride 'til the end.

And finally...

Favorite Backlist Title: Starman (1994): You guys. YOU GUYS. I mainlined all 80 issues of this series this year at an absolutely blistering pace because I did not want to stop reading it for even a single second. It's everything I love about comics: truly serialized storytelling with a huge cast and lots of intertwining subplots, tons of twists and foreshadowing that pay off in immensely satisfying ways, a deep dive into continuity that's still accessible to people who know almost nothing about Starman (me), a love letter to a fictionopolis, and one funky little dude trying his best at the center of it. I am BEGGING you to read Starman. Please.

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

The Killing Kind

Of the films he made after NIGHT TIDE (1961), Curtis Harrington’s THE KILLING KIND (1973, Plex) may be the closest in spirit to the experimental shorts he shot in the 1940s and 1950s. It’s not just the dream sequence in which ex-convict John Savage imagines himself in a crib, pampered by the old women living in mother Ann Sothern’s rooming house. It’s also the strange scenes between mother and son, paralleled by the strained relationship of their neighbors, father Peter Brocco and daughter Luana Anders. More absurdist queer psychodrama than horror film, THE KILLING KIND has moments that echo Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams.

In the opening scene, Savage is forced to participate in a gang rape. When the girl (Susan Bernard) turns him in to the police, he spends two years in prison before returning home to mama. He then embarks on a revenge tour, setting his sights on Bernard and his inept lawyer (Ruth Roman), though it’s clear the real source of his problems is Sothern’s particular brand of smother love.

I don’t know how much input Harrington had on Tony Crechales and George Edwards’ script (they later recycled Brocco and Anders’ characters in another film, 1980’s THE ATTIC), but the parent-child scenes are strongly reminiscent of similar elements in Harrington’s experimental shorts. Savage and Sothern sometimes speak at cross-purposes, as if each were delivering a monolog without listening to the other. She infantilizes him with recurring offers of chocolate milk but also sexualizes the relationship, insisting he rub her neck and kiss her on the mouth. And even though Savage spies on new tenant Cindy Williams (who made the film between workdays on THE CONVERSATION), it’s pretty obvious he’s a deeply closeted gay man. When he attempts to masturbate to images of bare breasts, he can’t finish, and his relations to women seem to be based in hatred.

Sothern and Savage have a marvelous rapport on screen. Their scenes demand complete trust, which is obvious throughout. And Sothern, who started studying The Method with Jeff Corey in the 1960s, is totally in command of her instrument. She can switch from bullying to morose to comic in a heartbeat, and it all makes sense. Anders is very effective as the put-upon daughter next door, who switches from flirtatious to abrasive when Savage rebuffs her advances (she’s lucky; he tends to kill the women who come on to him). The wonderful character actress Marjorie Eaton also turns up as one of the tenants. Watching her descend regally in a chair lift is one of the film’s most sublime images.

[msfbgraves]

Cobra Kai 2.0

Something that struck me about the new Cobra Kai versus the Cobra Kai in the films -

Nearly every Cobra Kai member they focus on in the series is underprivileged. Hawk is disabled. Miguel is a poor boy whose family are immigrants. Tory is a fatherless poor caretaker of a sick mother and younger brother. Kenny is a poor black kid picked on by a bunch of rich white kids. Yes, there's Parker, but did he ever get his own episode? Aisha is a bullied black kid, though she's rich (which got her booted off the show).

The Miyagi Do's are the rich ones, the stable ones (no one we know of among them, other than Robby, has much hardship to overcome). Beautiful dojo and everything.

But that wasn't what the films were selling! The Cobra Kais were a group of mostly white preppy rich kids ganging up on one new poor kid, who, to some people in that Encino club, might still have counted as not-quite-white (if Aly was born around 1966, her parents will have been born around 1930-1940, and to those people, Daniel LaRusso would have been called a swarthy wop, guinea or dago by some people they grew up with, if they're too polite to use such language by 1983). Daniel definitely takes pains not to seem other to his environment even in 2018.

Sorry, but if your message is: "Cobra Kais are people too", why can't you simply try to win sympathy for preppy white kids? Why make Johnny into a blue collar worker? Nothing in his background suggests that. Why not make him a divorced, washed up, bankrupted investment banker? Why have Eli not simply be the vaguely Jewish kid who has trouble making friends? Really, if your whole raison d'être is "shitty rich kids are people too", why are you making it so that your protagonists are always fighting the rich kids? Who... aren't even shitty? Who did Samantha LaRusso ever hurt? And maybe there's Anthony, but he's barely in the show for three seasons.

Teaching poor kids to fight dirty because life can do you dirty is borderline justified. But The Karate Kid was about rich kids being taught to fight dirty and then taking all their advantages out on poor kids, because might makes right. Johnny, with his bike, and his preppy clothes, laughing at Daniel who has to sneak in through the kitchen to see his uptown girl. Chozen, the strong henchman to his insanely rich uncle, ganging up on the poor foreign boy. Terry Silver, making business deals with career fighter Mike Barnes. Humanise that all you like - but we also see what that looks like in the films, and that's Aly. The rich girl who really likes this new sweet kid, and doesn't care his mother is probably too outspoken for her parents' liking, and doesn't care her girlfriends don't much care for him. Aly, who is nothing but polite to Mr. Miyagi (compare that to Terry Silver's openly racist taunts), and only breaks up with Daniel when he jumps to conclusions (once about the class difference, another time when he was openly jealous about her talking to other guys). Show why, as taught by Johny, Cobra Kai 2.0 is good for those kids, or indeed show Johnny figuring out why it isn't and trying to make a change.

Because a poor kid learning "No Mercy" because they're trying to survive in a world that is trying to crush them is a very different setup than teaching a rich kid with all advantages in the world how to go around and pick on people, which is what Kreese was doing. The closest we get to that in the show is Hawk. It indeed isn't pretty and his redemption is entirely rushed, but even Eli, vaguely Jewish kid with a scarred face and trouble understanding social cues, had it much harder than, say, Tommy, who simply liked to win fights with his friends, if that meant nearly beating a young Newark boy to death after a school dance.

[yolowritter]

Hello there everyone, and welcome back to part 2 of this Au! So, I'll put forth a quick recap from last time and let everyone know what's happening in the rest of the story, yeah? Cool, now let's move right along!

Disclaimer: I’ve been gone from Tumblr for a while now, due to myriad of technical issues + prioritizing AO3 and IRL work. It’s a long story, but not to worry, I am now back and will actually remember to post frequently. Anyway, on with the AU!

As a reminder: The premise here is that Lila's grandmother (from the embassy mom's family, since until they explain this 27 mothers thing Lila has going on I am going to ignore it) once lived in Paris in the 1940s, and befriended Fu and Marianne as they were hiding the Miraculous away. Long story short, during that scene in S5 where they're escaping, Grandma Rossi gets the Fox Miraculous and helps them do so, eventually returning to Italy before Fu has deemed it safe enough to return for it. Many years later, she ends up revealing Trixx to Lila and passes the Fox onto her when her granddaughter says she's going to Paris, and tells her to be very, *very* careful with it. Lila immediately proceeds to nearly out herself with the Volpina incident. But don't worry, it's fine, she manages to get out of that situation without too much trouble. Now she's offered to be Adrien's friend, and so has Marinette. In the meantime, she's also waiting for a good oppurtunity to transform again, and try to convince Ladybug and Chat Noir that she is not a supervillain. For details, check the previous post.

Anyway, onto the rest of the show! Things stay the same for a few episodes, or...almost. Because Lila is friends with Adrien now, and by proxy Marinette who is putting her crush aside to make sure Lila isn't getting him in any trouble by also being Adrien's friend, our beloved...anti-heroine? Yeah, sure, why not? Our beloved anti-heroine happens to also get to know Alya and Nino failrly well, discreetly using Alya to get info on Ladybug and Chat Noir under the guise of helping with her blog, and Nino just for the playlists. Listen, Lila's taste in music ain't the most varied, so if there's good tunes in Nino's lists, she wants to have them too. Anyway, her friendship with the group develops more and more as she basically tries to be on her best behavior. Now...like I said last time, Lila isn't exactly the most moral person, or has any problems about absolutely (verbally) clobbering someone (meaning Chloe, most of the time) who is annoying her. And since Paris' Perfect Princess™ also happens to be a bully and screams at the same amount of decibels as a banshee before *anyone* has had their morning coffee, Lila joins up with Marinette and Alya to make sure nobody puts up with Chloe's BS.

As a consequence of this, she develops genuine friendships. I know, how horrible! But Lila isn't quite sure *how* friendship works, aside from her just holding back her snarky comments and being generally nice to the girls. So...as Marinette slowly begins to trust her more since Lila seems to just...not be going after her crush, our anti-heroine is left grappling with what exactly it means to even have friends in the first place, and if her bonds with the gang are even real considering she's mostly pretending when around them. This all comes to a head when Alya invites Marinette and Alya for a sleepover at her house...and cue the Sapotis episode to screw up everyone's night. Low and behold, there's no Rena Rouge to help LB and CN out, and since Alya ran off looking for her sisters, and Marinette is "missing" (AKA Ladybug atm), Lila finds herself alone at the house. Now, logically, she should wait this out until the heroes deal with the Akuma, since it's none of her business. Then again...there's *something* nagging her in the back of her head, a kind of itch that just makes her want to go out there do something instead of being stuck inside waiting. Could it possibly be that she's grown to care for Alya and doesn't want to see her upset? ...nah, probably the boredom! On she goes to transform and jump out the window!

Oddly enough, she notices her costume has changed a little bit since the last time. It's still very much Volpina, but this time she looks a bit more like a real fox. Slightly fluffy, swishing tail, tiny bits of fur on her ears and the ability to flick them at will (yes I will be using this to show her emotions, since I find it adorable when Chat does it), and her fangs are a bit more pronounced. Does this reflect Lila's feral nature as a total chaos gremlin? Absolutely it does! Trust me, she's a troll and it gets so much better! Anyway off she goes jumping around rooftops trying to find Alya, until eventually she comes across Ladybug, who is just kinda jumping around seemingly for no reason (She's trying to get to Fu's place without being seen by the Sapotis). Naturally, Lila jumps ahead of her and peeks her head out from behind a chimney. Ladybug yelps so hard that she physically staggers back, and Volpina finds this incredibly funny. So do I Lila, so do I... After a short moment of Marinette doing a double take, she kinda looks at Volpina with confusion. It goes something like this:

Ladybug: "Wait...Lila?" she asks, confusion evident on her face.

Volpina: "Nope, name's Cerise!" she quickly corrects her, a wide grin on her face. "I- wait, I wasn't supposed to say that! Uh...sorry!" the fox heroine yelps back, pinching the bridge of her nose. "The name's Volpina! The real one this time, promise!" she sing-songs with a tiny bow.

Ladybug: "You're the real Fox Holder?" Ladybug raises an eyebrow, clearly skeptical.

Volpina: "Yeah, Trixx absolutely adores me! So, how can I help ya miss Bug?" she asks, a chaste grin etching itself on her face. She seems almost feral, and Marinette decides to look her over.

Ladybug: Her lucky charm flashes over Volpina's form, and Ladybug examines her. It...looks like Lila's Akumatization, but also not? Her hair is a tad more orange, almost like there's faded highlights at the end of her bangs, and Volpina looks more *real*, like an actual fox rather than just a girl in a costume. "Uh...any chance you'll help us with the Akuma?" she asks again as the girl keeps flashing red in her vision, indicating she's the solution to her lucky charm.

Volpina: Volpina *grins*, flicking her tail at Ladybug. "Oh, I'll be happy to! Lead the way!" she chuckles playfully, almost like she's having fun with all this. Still Marinette jumps ahead of her, leading Lila back into the fray.

Cue the Sapotis-Land illusion and the Akuma's defeat, and Volpina hiding away the moment the fight is done so Ladybug and Chat Noir can't ask her any questions. Lila makes it back to Alya's place just in time, and jumps through the window, flopping on the couch just as the other girls also come back. She naturally makes herself look like she's been lounging around, and Marinette doesn't suspect her.

Worth mentioning that Lila was just pretending beforehand, and that Cerise is gonna be her supposed "real name" as Volpina, to throw off suspicion from her being Lila. Since Cerise doesn't actually exist in this AU (just like Lila's other 200.000 identities), it'll just be a cameo. From that day on, Lila joins Akuma fights every now and again, slowly growing into the Ladynoir banter and proving herself as an ally of sorts, while still blue skidoo-ing away before they can ask her questions. Look, she's in the *process* of crafting a new identity, this stuff ain't easy! After a couple weeks, she ends up eavesdropping on LB and CN while they're having that convo in Glaciator, where she tells him that she's got plans and whatnot. Ladybug leaves like normal, but Lila smells a wee bit off stupidity in the air, and decides to teach our dear furry a few things about how scheduling works. Low and behold, Lila actually ends up giving really good advice to Chat Noir even while actively trolling! Isn’t she miraculous? Anyway, I’ll need to go into waaaaaaay more detail about this in the next part of this AU, but I will save the specifics for part 3!

I’ll see you all soon, but until then, Stay Miraculous!

[fipindustries]

the addams family

ive written in the past my thoughts on an interesting take on the addams family but this time i want to try that exercise again from a different angle. i want to write a proper origin story.

now this might in a sense be a case of me not getting it. the addams are not supposed to have like, lore and an internal logic to them. there is not supposed to be a coherent story behind "the addams family" they are just meant to be a bunch of weirdoes and that is as far as it goes. it started as a newspaper strip for christ sake.

but nothing, this is my blog and this is how i have fun.

i would be super interested in telling a yellowjackets/gotham style story where we start with relatively normal people in a relatively normal situation and we slowly start to ramp up thing until organically we end up at the addams family that we know and love. also i would be basing this on the tv version from the 60's so, lets get at it.

my take on the addams family origin story.

it starts in, lets say, 1940's new england. We have Mary Addams, the young daughter of a very wealthy family, coming from old money. she is by all apearances a perfectly normal and respectable model of a proper young lady. she carries on her shoulders the expectetions of her incredibly strict and old fashioned family, who have bethroted her to a rich bachelor against her will.

on top of this she lives in a very old mannor on the outskirts of town. a big, desolate place, covered in antiques, chintz, porcelain and pink wallpapaper. she walks the halls either by herself or followed by her nanny and tries to sleep at night even though she could swear she hears weird noises coming from the walls.

but Mary has a hidden side to her. she deeply resents her gilded cage. on her own, in the dark, when she is alone in her room and noone is watching, she reads improper books, indulges in lurid fantasies and engages in forbidden ideas, not suited for an innocent young girl. she strains against the restrictions of her station in society and is desperate to find an out.

first season

she is also sent to a boarding school for young ladies where she is taught horse riding, piano lessons and fencing. it is in this place where she finds enough degrees of freedom that she can escape at night and gallivant in the nearby town, frequenting sordid spots and disreputable bars, where she will get drunk, arm wrestle with sailors and perhaps gallivant with the ocassional boy or girl.

it is in these places that she meets a young man Homero Gomez. a young, violent and dangerous to know rascal. a no good trouble maker, potentially a pyromaniac. he occassionally lends a hand to his brother Lucas Gomez who acts as muscle and lock picks to a local hispanic gang (think of west side story).

the two of them meet and quickly hit it off, they have great chemistry and the find the ways to expand each other's horizons. she finds the way to channel Gomez violent tendencies by teaching him fencing and letting him use the chemistry lab of the school to fashion more refined explosives. he teaches her of new hiding spots and gives her more chances to explore herself and let loose.

most of the first season would be about the burgeoning relationshi between these two. about them being caught in two different worlds and how these worlds can never meet. things go on like this for weeks until the man she had been engaged to unexpectedly comes to visit her at the same time she was spending time with gomez. the two men cross each other and get into a fight. and the man gets killed by gomez. maria and homero look at each other and they immediatly and wordlessly agree to tell noone about this. honestly, what is even the big deal, everyone dies soon or later. then Maria takes gomez to the medical lab in the boarding school in the middle of the night and they use the instruments there to disfigure the body beyond recognition so that they dont get caught. gomez, with the help of his brother, disposes of the body the next day. season ends

season two

in the next season we would see a maria that is starting to break free from her family, the murder has awoken something in her. the fact that she is no longer engage just gives her more slack on her leash. she becomes a lot of the first season would be about them trying to hide the murder, deal with the police investigations and more importantly, to try not to arise any suspicions from maria's side of the family. all of this while discovering that this has awoken something inside of her. she was always a bit of a rebel, but her taste of blood has made her take a turn towards the macabre. she starts paying a lot more attention in anatomy classes. she decides to study as a nurse just so she has access to the local hospital and more specifically the mourge. she starts to take an interest in death and what death makes of us.

maria, after proving herself with the last corpse, starts to lend her services to the local gang to dispose of bodies much like they did with her ex-fiance. Lucas "fester" gomez brings her the bodies, she makes them unrecognizable. due to her skill with a bonesaw and the scalpel she gets the nickname of "the mortician".

much of the season is spent on trying to avoid police investigations as they try to find the missing man, plus the other bodies, and see if they can catch a potential murderer. while all of this is happening Homero takes refuge in his house, trying to lay low, where we get more of a chance to meet his mom. a weird old lady from the caribean, who brought with herself into america many of the strange and mystical traditions she grew up with, plus many others she herself invented. someone who is very into herbal medicines, voodoo, homemade curses and other such superstitions. she starts advicing her son about how to best evade the cops and how to make sure someone else gets blamed for the murder. Gomez mom suggests Maria's dad. when homero asks why that guy specifically and how come she knows him, the mom becomes reticent to give details which sparks gomez curiosity and starts conducting investigations of him own into maria's family.

gomez enlists maria's help to discover the secrets of her family and together they find out a terrible truth. the noises that came from the walls at night were from someone, a young boy locked in the attic by the dad for being severely autistic and thus an embarassement for the family, morticia's long lost brother. trapped in the walls of the manor since he was a toddler, terribly pale and skiny, mute, unable to bear the light of the sun. he doesnt have a name, he was never given one, he was only ever called "that thing" by his dad. but the secrets dont end up there. where the boy was locked up where many other lost documents he had collected through the years.

these documents reveal that maria's dad had an affair with gomez' mom and and Maria is his illegitimate child, which is why he was so insistent on marrying her off and which also means gomez and the mortician are half sibilings. he reveals this to maria who confronts her dad about this. there is a big dramatic final scene where maria finally confronts her dad, throws all his lies to his face and then the dad becomes violent, grabbing a rifle from a wall and threatning her with it. when it looks like he is about to pull the trigger he is stopped by thing, the son, who finally dared come out of his hiding spots and save his sister. he loses a hand in the fight but he manages to kill the dad. afterwards, wounded and scared, he retreats back into the walls of the mannor, the only place he can feel comfortable again.

the season ends with morticia poised to inherit the house and its fortunes.

final season

in the third and final season we are finally seeing morticia come into her own. without the yoke of her dad she is finally able to be herself to the fullest. she starts dressing in all black, she lets her hair loose. she no longer affects a proper, polite attitude but in fact starts to show off her more sinister imposing prescence. gomez also is starting to come more fully into his own, he has risen on the ranks of his gang. he no longer goes on missions or heists but is the man who gives the orders. he starts wearing nice pinstripe suits to signify his station in the organization and is not afraid to challenge to a duel anyone who dares defy him. the third and final season would focus on morticia's mother. a prescence who thus far seemed to be innocuous but who reveals herself to have been the true brains behind her husband's cruelty. she may not have his violent outbursts or his implicit power as the patriarch of the family but she has something worse. connections. she is a well respected woman in her community, organizer of events and charity funds, leader of the local HOA and PTA. she brings to bear all the lawyers she can get her hands into to make sure morticia never sees a dime of her inheritance and also to declare her lost son incompetent and get locked up forever in a mental asylum.

we will see the bitter legal battles, that the mom will fight with all the force of society at her disposal and which morticia an gomez will try to resist with all the power of the underworld. while all of this is happening morticia finds out she is pregnant but tries to hide it so the gomez doesnt worry given all the other pressures he has to handle. while this is happening we see how thing befriends another man at the mental asylum. a large scary man with a slight learning disability who society deemed "too violent". his name, as you can expect, is lurch. thing and lurch together organize a break out from the mental hospital with the help of fester. at the same time the final trial between morticia and her mom is going on, with a strange hairy small person with round black shades and a bowler hat as morticia's lawyer (some guy they met through the crime organization). the whole trial is a a circus and a spectacle. by this point we see the addams be the addams and they behave exactly how you would expect on a court. gomez challenges the judge to a duel and also insist that the woman that he loves is to be sent to jail then he be sent to jail as well (he insists that if they are excecuted it be with a guillotine), morticia shows up with her full dark dress, they keep bringing all sorts of bizzare character witnesses that derail the entire proceedings. eventually they win the trial, morticia goes into labor, gomez proposes marriage to her right then and there and they make the judge right there and then to officiate the wedding, as morticia is giving birth in the middle of the courtroom floor.

once the baby is born morticia asks gomez what will they call the baby. neither of them had even thought of a name. gomez looks around the room lost for words until he sees a calendar marking the day of birth of his daughter. wednesday.

the happy couple go to their mannor with their new baby in their arms, where thing, lurch, and gomez mom are waiting for them. cue the credits music.