#And he is. But he's also the most interesting‚ well-written bad man Marvel has (one of its most interesting characters period) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

positivelybeastly · 8 months ago

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I've got another question for you--how did you feel about Young Hank's "magic arc" during All-New? I've got thoughts and such, but I know this will spur a good detailed response, so!

As you intimated, I do indeed have thoughts, though I caution that my knowledge of this particular phase of Hank's stories I know maybe least well? The 90s and the mid 2010s are my biggest weak spots for Hank knowledge because of my distaste for storytelling trends in the former, and the general just. Disarray of most Marvel books in the latter.

That being said, I did read the books because I was interested in seeing how they handled it.

In a nutshell? Untapped potential. This was most acute in X-Men: Blue, which was simultaneously the best written of the three time displaced books, but which also seemed most interested in focusing on Scott and Jean at the expense of Hank, Bobby, and Warren. The epitome of this was the culmination of the demonic temptation arc.

The fact that it's all brought back to Hank's ultimate desire to want to be there for his friends, to support them, to be there for them in ways he doesn't feel like he currently is able to, is a big plus to me, at least.

That has, at its heart, always been my read on Hank's character - that if he moves on his moral compass, that if he does something rash and ill-considered and dumb, then it's out of a place of misguided good intention, and never malice. That's the heart of my issues with X-Force's characterisation of him as evil, it fundamentally misunderstands that a good majority of his 'bad' decisions are done based on compassion, and it can't bear to even pretend he was ever good or compassionate.

Even his decision to break time in All-New vol. 1 was born out of a want for Scott to be his friend again, out of moral cowardice, out of an inability to hurt and kill a man he once loved as much as his own family. Yes, it was filtered through a dozen brain aneurysms, but that is why he did it, ultimately.

It's also maybe why he's always gotten on with Scott, and then why their 'break up' was so acrimonious. Scott's willingness to do anything to keep mutantkind alive is mirrored by Hank's willingness to do anything to make sure his friends stay alive, but (at least until X-Force), Scott's willingness manifested as morally abhorrent but tactically sound decisions, while Hank's willingness manifested as morally 'better' (no-one got killed) but intellectually stupid decisions that ended up tying things into knots and making them more complicated in the long run.

It's just that, you know, none of this ever really got codified in the books, so it looked like Hank was doing dumb shit to be petty, because Bendis doesn't care about Hank's emotional state.

But anyway.

Hank must be set apart, and appreciated, and loved, or he is nothing. He can't stand to be ignored, or considered useless. That's just the way he's wired. He'll do anything to remain necessary. So far, so good. That's a good read on him. This is the miracle child effect that's dogged Hank's mentality since he was born.

This is really good set-up!

And then it completely bottles it.

I was so excited, man. I thought, okay, so since Warren and Bobby are barely interacting with Hank, and Jean and Scott have their weird love triangle going on with Jimmy Hudson (fuck off), adding Bloodstorm to the team means that she must be a foil for Hank, right? This issue, which introduces her and gives us a view into her mind and makes it clear that she thinks so very highly of Hank, sets up a friendship, maybe even something more, right?

Wrong.

Oh.

Bloodstorm and Hank barely interact again, and Bloodstorm just becomes another accessory to the Scott-Jean-Jimmy triangle, turning it into a weird 'I-don't-give-a-fuck-what-geometric-shape-this-is-'situation. I was so disappointed, man. Instead, Hank is given an almost entirely off-panel relationship with Gazing Nightshade.

And his relationship with his older self?

This is about it for their meaningful interactions, if you don't include him being a bitch to older Hank in Uncanny #600 and Hickman's New Avengers. Considering Hank has changed the most, and was, for the majority of the time the displaced O5 were present, the character who remained alive and whole and who had the most story potential to mine (Warren was memory wiped, Jean was already dead, Scott would go on to die, and Bobby was whatever), the fact that these two barely interact just made me not really care about younger Hank, especially because of two simple facts.

One, young Hank has always been the worst and least interesting version of the character (well, until Percy's Beast came along) because he's just big guy who talks eloquently, and that's fine for a 60s comic, but all of his really unique aspects only came out when he turned furry.

So, you're starting with the least interesting version of the character, which . . . is fine, you can always improve on that. But I don't really feel like they did, because it felt like there was a lack of interest in really moving Hank forward. Both Hanks were stuck in a rut at this time, so, you know, I guess they match, woo. But it just kinda sucked to see so many issues where young Hank was around, and he'd just. Not really do anything that couldn't have been done by another character. He never interacted with any characters that older Hank had special relationships with like young Scott or Jean did, and he wasn't forming new relationships that I could be excited about, either.

Two, younger Hank gets angry at older Hank, right? For bringing them here, wrecking the timestream, all of that? He makes disparaging remarks about turning into a blue homunculus?

Not one single writer every had older Hank turn around and point out that the man who turned them into a blue furry beast was WAY closer in appearance, emotional temperament, and history to young Hank.

Yes, older Hank may be the guy who did it, twenty years or so ago, but younger Hank was the guy who is GOING to do it, because of the tendencies that his magic arc showcased, because of the pride, because of the ego, and his older self, who HAS that context, who KNOWS what he's like, who is AWARE of his personality flaws, NEVER blames him for that! Never takes him to task for the moral grandstanding!

Because here's the thing - yes, Hank CAN be proud, and he can have an ego, but the WORST of it died when he mutated himself, because he fucked up his entire life in the course of one night and he was never able to fix it, just recover from it! He learned!

Young Hank hasn't learned that lesson yet! And despite older Hank being there, and knowing that already, they NEVER talk about it! It's just brushed over! Absolutely goddamn maddening.

Young Hank re-learned a lesson that older Hank knew, and we didn't even get the parts where older Hank even tries to impart that knowledge, because we've got to spend time on bamfs and crossovers to the Ultimate Universe and Kid Apocalypse and the future Brotherhood and a minivan that's bigger on the inside and oh my god what are we even here for, guys? Why are we ignoring this character's obvious main foil, his older self???

. . . Anyway.

It was interesting see Hank turn to something other than science to keep him going, because he knows this is something that's within him, that science is something this version has gravitated towards and excelled in, but he knows that's not always a multiversal constant.

Science is a part of him, but it is not him. Science is just a mechanism by which he understands why, by which he understands because. Hank McCoy wants to understand why something happens, he wants to understand the because, and how he gets there is changeable. So the magic arc should really have been a fulfilment of the promise of these pages from Endangered Species.

But I don't really feel like it really went anywhere. I don't feel like anything new was revealed about Hank through his flirtation with magic. He'll do anything for his friends, even make desperate, dumb decisions; he'll transform himself in the pursuit of knowledge; he'll fix what he broke, and people will take him back with a slap on the wrist and then they'll go back to mostly ignoring him. (It was very significant to me that young Hank's demonic corruption happened without anyone noticing, because Hank is a king of seeming fine while his life is falling apart, and some things really do never change.)

All of these character traits had already been established by previous storylines, but better, tbh.

It was repetitious, just like older Hank's repeating arc going on at that same time of making a massive science mistake, feeling guilty and vowing not to do it again, only to be reset the next time they wanted to do a big crossover event with a big science mistake to fit. I can only stand to see the same things repeated without any attempt to break the cycle or progress past it so many times. This is partly why feline Hank's story has always felt so impactful to me, because it always felt like it was moving forward and he was changing and growing. He learned. At least, it felt like he did.

I don't really think anyone was learning anything in All-New vol. 1 and 2 or X-Men: Blue. I felt like I was just killing time, reading a mostly Scott and Jean centric book that Hank occasionally guest starred in.

As for what came after Extermination - the fact that no-one picked up on the fact that older Hank should have known magic once the memories merged is kind of confirmation to me that no-one at Marvel had any real interest in exploring this side of Hank, so I couldn't and can't quite get excited about it.

It would've been at least neat to see evil Beast break out the magic when he got cornered, but like everything else, Percy ignored that, too. If new Hank has these memories, it has yet to be established on panel, and he seems to be more of the traditional Hank wheelhouse, just progressing in a different way, as detailed in the Infinity Comics releasing atm.

If I had been reading at the time (I stopped around 2015, before Hank got into magic), I probably would've been more invested in the idea of Hank learning magic, but as it is, I came back to it a year or two ago while I was waiting for X-Force to finish, and knowing that it all ended with 'and then the time displaced arc didn't matter to anyone but Scott and Bobby' just meant I looked at all of this like, this is a lot of set-up for plots that never happened and never really went anywhere. Shame. There really was potential here.

I kept staring at Hank, waiting for him to do something, to have a romance, to be tested again and succeed or fail, to show he's learned his lesson or not, to bond with Bloodstorm over temptation, to talk with his older self about what he's learned, but instead, he would have one issue of focus, and then fade into the background while everything else took precedence. I just got bored and started flicking through.

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it, though. Maybe there's a issue I missed or didn't pay attention to that will 'unlock' this arc for me and make it all crystallise in a way. I'd love to be wrong.

#dantelupine #outofmuffins

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ehhh2000 · 11 months ago

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Tekken 8 - Anti Reina Mishima Stamp(Rant) Huge Tekken 8 Spoilers!

This is gonna piss off Reina fans, but just a friendly reminder..... this is my opinion. If you love her, go on a page that praises her. You won't get it here. Alright here goes.

I was playing Tekken 8 at my friend's house. It was a fun time, and the story has improved from Tekken 7 (with the bland, monotone narrator gone, thank god) and..... Tekken 6 (ugh!) but has a few flaws.

The biggest flaw which almost ruined Tekken 8 for me, was this character, called Reina Mishima.

This is without a doubt, one of the most poorly written female characters I have ever seen in my entire life.

You mean to tell me that Lucky Chloe gets shit from Tekken fans, but Reina Mishima gets a free pass? WTF? I mean I am not a fan of Lucky Chloe (ok her character design is cute, but she is abusive AF to Eddie T.T) but at least she wasn't a forced and contrived, plot device character like Reina, and is just a dumb troll character from the creator, as a middle finger to their haters that really hated her guts.

Like you think Rey from Star Wars, Disney Remake Mulan, Bella Swan, or Captain Marvel were bad?

Well, that is nothing comparred to this DeviantArt OC, Mary-Sue reject.

So Reina is the daughter of Heihachi Mishima. (Oh, so we are doing the Lars Alexandersson plot-twist, from Tekken 6 again, in 2024... aka lazy, repetitive writing for Tekken 8 when it comes to introducing new characters... got it 👍)

My issues with her that makes her a poorly written character is that:

-She is a flawless fighter, like Disney remake's Mulan bad. I know she is suppose to have flawless fighting moves like Heihachi, but good god, this is just embarrasing.

Edit: Ok, I understand that it is a fighting game, and the Mishima's are suppose to be powerful, badass fighters, so Reina should be no exception. Fair enough. I still think she is a self-insert character because she was just thrown into the story, with no buildup or references from previous games (Same issue I had with Lars in Tekken 6 btw, he just exists to replace Jin as a MC, and they made him a Mishima to make him more relavant, instead of him just standing out on his own as a character. I don't hate Lars btw, he has a cool character design, but the hair is riduclous, and I felt indifferent towards him at first, but now I kinda see him as a potential father figure to Jin in Tekken 8.)

-She is trying too hard to be a hardcore, edgy, tomboy, cool-looking version of Asuka, so I will call her the poor man's Asuka Kazama.

-Her character design and oufit is uninspired and too modern for my liking (Black boots, black short-shorts and A black and purple hoddie, huh.... how creative... -_-) oh and short black hair and purple streaks to add to the edgy, tomboy look. (Or the Karen look as I like to call it ^^)

-She is younger than Jin Kazama, YOUNGER! Despite being Jin's aunty. Yes, you heard correctly. I think the creators wanted a self-insert character to have some sort of sex appeal, which is why they made her look younger and prettier, and show off her legs (which gives me the ick.) And her calling Jin "Senpai" didn't help either.

(I also didn't like the fact the creators made Kazumi Mishima and Jun Kazama look younger than their own sons, like what is wrong with looking a bit older, mature and graceful? I actually want to see a badass, old lady in Tekken that can fight! Kazumi felt like a missed opportunity in that sense.)

-She manages to beat the shit out of Kazuya in her ending, despite her looking like a twig. Reminding me too much of something out Inuyasha, when that abusive, unbearable, bratty, girl Kagome would do the same thing to her love interest Inuyasha, for comedy! 🙄

I will admit that Kazuya is a shitty father (Sorry fans 😭 don't kill me) at least Kazuya has flaws, he is a damaged man, blinded by hatred, rage and has an obssession with power, like it's a drug to him. A wrathful devilman, but not completely heartless, otherwise he would just be another mini Heihachi.

Reina has no flaws, no personality, no interesting backstory and is just a pathetic Jerk-Sue Character (a Mary-Sue that is a Jerk, with no consequences for her actions.)

-She is also not a good plot-twist character either, again, she just ripped off Lars' backstory, so there is no originality from her.

-And to add to the cherry on top, when it comes to her being a poorly written, fanfic-styled Mary-Sue character, she is also....... a devil! 😈 Unless if it is revealed that she is Kazumi's daughter or something, then why the hell does she have to devil gene? And she wants to be the new Heihachi, huh? Wait till she finds out that Heihachi is the OG devil hater.

Terrible twist, terrible story, and a terrible first impression of Reina. 🤬 Fuck this character!

#rant #reina mishima #antireina #poorly written #like wtf #femalecharacters #marysue #overrated #overratedAF #i hate her #idc #my opinion #haters gonna hate #tekken #tekken 8 #jin kazama #kazuya mishima #heihachi mishima

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kitausuret · 9 months ago

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well now I'm on a roll so I'm gonna keep going lol

re: my last post I guess

It is actually pretty fucked up how so many WOC in Spidey comics get just like! Fucked over! Especially when it comes to being love interests! Which isn't like an outlier because love interests are very common in Spider-Man comics -- it comes with the territory of "the best stories in Spidey could be a soap opera plot".

The most egregious example is obviously Sha Shan. Yes, she is a product of her time but let's be real, the White Savior stuff is just cringeworthingly bad. Do I get why she and Flash and their relationship are written the way they are? Do I recognize that in some ways Flash was just trying to repay her for her having saved his life in Vietnam? Yes to both, but there's really no excuse for the way their relationship just imploded in the 80s. Why couldn't they just have a normal breakup. Marvel, please. And of course she's been mostly shelved since then.

Next we have Glory Grant. Does she ever become Peter's love interest? No, but around the time of Inferno she does get into a pretty serious relationship with Eduardo Lobo. It's complicated (he's a mutant/werewolf, also organized crime shenanigans) but she loves him! And she's a huge romantic! She wants to be swept off her feet! Eduardo is dashing and adores her and guess what happens. She accidentally kills him while meaning to shoot Spider-Man.

And then there's her relationship with Randy -- I never understood why they got together tbh. To me it always felt like Mackie just stuck them together because he wanted to do something with Randy post-divorce without actually considering either of their personalities or compatibility. But at least she had a normal relationship I guess.

And after that, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. How do I know? Because I read every single one of her appearances.

MOVING ON.

We get to Miss Arrow, who was actually Ero, an aspect of The Other. (Don't worry about it.) Anyways, while she was not actually a Human Being, she did take on the appearance of a woman of color, so when it turns out she's been manipulating Flash the whole time she was pursuing him and she's going to forcibly impregnate him? (yeah, really, that was the plot.) Like, oh, okay. I guess here we are. But we can't get any worse, right?

WRONG.

Enter the impeccable and stunning and beautiful and gorgeous and perfect Lily Hollister. (I am very normal about her.) She's introduced as Harry Osborn's latest squeeze. While the narrative initially tries to paint Harry as some kind of playboy (lol. lmao, even) it's clear he's REALLY into her. Or at least he thinks he is. We can dissect the comphet another day. But, lo and behold, it turns out a good chunk of her motivation for sticking around was because she's secretly Malice! AKA a supervillain!

That's the worst it got though, right? WRONG.

Then there was the whole subplot where it's revealed Lily slept with Norman Osborn, she's pregnant with probably-Norman's-child, blah blah blah I don't wanna talk about American Son. There's a bit of a course correction in Origin of the Species but let's not pretend she didn't get royally fucked over by the narrative. And she STILL hasn't recovered. (The whitewashing is terrible in many comics.)

Since then I honestly can't think of any WOC love interests in Spidey that have had any kind of prominence. Even on the symbiote side, we have (checks notes) Manuela Calderon, who hasn't appeared since Conway's Carnage series, even though Vicki Montesi has been around. Flash's latest paramour is Aria, who I love, but she doesn't even have a last name! We don't know anything about her! Yes I want to write half a dozen fics about her anyways but LET'S GET SOME CHARACTERIZATION!!!!!!

So many of these wonderful gals we don't get to know things about them - what are their life goals; their hobbies; their dreams and desires.

Of these, Glory is the best developed, but she's also been around since the 70s. I would argue that the fact that she's not a love interest most of the time has meant she occasionally gets development. But we should be able to have both! Women like Betty, Liz, obviously Mary Jane and Felicia, all get a chance in the spotlight. No, it's not consistent, and yes their stories have issues as well, but at least they have stories. We get to see them in love and heartbreak, often in great detail!

The Spidey office can and should do better by its ladies of all colors -- and not just relegate them to "sacrifice" or "surprise supervillain"!

#vent #i'm just sooooooooo grrrrrrrr #i'm normal i swear

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keepsmagnetoaway · 11 months ago

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Giant-Size X-Men 1 (May 1975)

Len Wein/Dave Cockrum

Here we...here we...here we fucking go!

This is the most important X-Men comic ever published: more important than the very first issue, even. This is also going to be a heinously long post, so strap in.

Notwithstanding the last, uh, six months of posts, this is where X-Men really starts, with it re-starting. In the mid-70s, the team had been without a book of their own for years but sporadic guest appearances had kept the characters present in the minds of readers: many of those guest appearances had been written by Len Wein, who in 1974 became editor-in-chief at Marvel and decided to revive the X-Men, but cautiously: he was going to put out a special large-format issue introducing a new team, and then follow it with further occasional large-format issues, maybe three or four times a year. He wrote the first issue, and got Dave Cockrum to draw it, creating a number of new mutants for the team's rebirth and introducing them all in a series of virtuoso sequences. I'm trying to resist the urge to just post this entire comic, but snippets will have to suffice.

Right away - this is page 1 - we see that the issue of prejudice and fear is back at the centre of the X-Men story, where it has always belonged. Not all the characters were totally new, though: one of the had been seeded a few months ago in Incredible Hulk, as we have seen.

Banshee, meanwhile - who, as we know, is canonically a country music freak - was also returning (slight sigh).

That's an interesting start - three characters and none of them Americans - but what about some non-white characters, huh?

So. The introduction and framing of the non-white, non-Western characters in this issue - and in this run of X-Men, to some extent - is obviously, shall we say, heavy-handed.

And yet, here they are - the characters exist, and I think it's important that they are drawn from all over the world: the comic is working hard to emphasise that and in doing so slips over and over into caricature in the interests of foregrounding diversity. It's not great - it's aged pretty terribly, in isolation - but with the knowledge of where these characters (particularly Storm) end up it's difficult to read any of this as actively bad, I think.

Certainly the clunkiest of these introductions is that of John Proudstar, the Apache, and it's surely no coincidence that...well, we'll get to that.

So, there they all are.

And here is someone you do recognise.

This is a long section of set-up, (re)introducing Cyclops and explainign where the others have gone: Jean, Bobby, Warren, Lorna and Alex have all gone missing on a mysterious island that seemed to house a super-powerful mutant (Beast, the X-Man we've seen most of during the hiatus, is now fully off doing his thing with the Avengers and is not involved).

There's so much going on here: we of course are all totally familiar now with the original X-Men, but some reader picking this up in 1975 very likely wouldn't have been, so here they are crammed in and then immediately disposed off. Shout-out also to Cockrum's art here, of which we'll have much more to say as we go on, but it does a huge amount, packing in character designs, costumes, action and plot while still leaving room for effect and emotion that, at times, ism almost Neal Adams-like (here, as you can see, Cyclops was briefly depowered when escaping the island, though he gets them back).

Also, here's our next big theme: infighting, introduced when Sunfire quits and then re-joins the team in the space of a single page. This is both foreshadowing and a sign that this issue was maaaaybe trying to do a bit too much.

But fuck it, this issue is great. Can you imagine the sheer richness of picking this up on a newsstand as a kid. All these characters! All this lore! All this potential! And then we get to the action of the issue, as the team fights its way across Krakoa, which is a kind of pulp nightmare landscape.

Enjoy the drama, the design, the style of this whole page: the looming temple, the strange angles, the sinister greyness of the final panel. Everything here is at the top of its game.

And then the big - if slightly obvious - reveal that the mutant is the island itself. This art kicks ass, and in the meantime introduces another thematic strand in the whole nuclear testing/cold war/mutation angle.

The final action sequence is bersekly brilliant, full of ambitious layout choices and complex storytelling that pulls of the goal of showcasing all the various disaparate X-Men and getting them to work together.

Eventually the fire the entire island into space (??) and the issue finally runs out of room and ends.

So, yeah. This issue was so obviously great, and such a success, that plans changed, and instead of occasional big stories like this, X-Men was revived as a regular monthly book: or rather, because it was still being printed but only with re-runs of original era stories, it was revamped as a book with new stories, starting with issue 94.

That's where this read will go next - and, guided by my trusty reading guide, we'll go right through for about 50 issues with only occasional guest appearances in the meantime, returning us at last to the one long on-going soap opera that is X-Men at their peak. Can't wait!

#x men comics #an xmen a day #xmen #giant size xmen #len wein #dave cockrum #wolverine #proudstar #sunfire #storm #colossus #nightcrawler #cyclops #it's good to be back baby

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pedrocomicreviews · 1 month ago

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Miles Morales: Spider-Man #32

"I simply wove a tale, my champion!"

We're done with the Deadpool crossover and we are going head-in on a magical mystical arc, featuring a bunch of Greek, Norse and Vodu divine characters. I guess if Peter can die 8 times, Miles can figure this out.

So I actually don't have much to talk about as far as Miles's character and journey go here-- he hasn't been exactly static ever since the big fight with Rabble, but due to having to react to crossover events left and right, the character has kinda remained the same in ways that mean he's not really changing or evolving much.

But completely parallel to Miles, this is actually a really interesting look into how divinity is doing in Marvel Comics, and how these characters who existed before and will exist after the apocalypse comes and destroys most media interact. Specifically, I adore Anansi's design, and I don't care what you have to do to put him in front of me; do it, do it every time.

What a guy.

But the other gods are also interesting, and especially Zip Zephyr is proving to be a very surprising character. He has a monologue about his place in the world, how he loathes not being respected and having his literal god-given rights revoked due to simply not being important enough. And it's not written like parody, which I think is why it works--

A lot of original Spider-Man villains are pathetic in a way that you are supposed to laugh at. Not that they are exactly satirical but, you're not supposed to feel that bad that they're in prison. This has changed drastically over time because a lot of them are also working class people who are stuck in a cycle of poverty, mental illness and crime, which enough writers realizes is way better as drama than it is as jokes.

But Zephyr is even beyond that, he is a guy we should be should be telling stories about, but no one even knows him. The decision to make his plight real and not just a joke about "Haha a Greek god is in a NYC prison" was the correct one, and I'm very happy Ziglar did it like this.

We start with Miles in a therapy session about how he's really feeling the "great power = great responsibility" weight lately, and it contrasts incredibly well with cutting to Zephyr. Here's a guy with no sense of responsibility and literal godlike power, and here the unspoken argument is how even though he does not deserve his power as far as the morals of it go, he still probably doesn't deserve the humiliation that his peers give him. Thor and Hercules don't even know who he is, and the only reason why he's in the story is because he's so insignificant to his own mythos that Ares can manipulate him into breaking a godly pact stronger deities made eons ago.

And yes, I know I'm talking about this fucking bit character in Spider-Man 2's solo for a while now, but I just really respect how the book made you pay attention to the fact that power and responsibility also require opportunity. Zephyr probably wouldn't have made it as a superhero either, much like Hercules is technically an important hero in Marvel, but has also gone through times where he realizes he will never be Thor.

It's a cool inner conflict for a character who was really just a bit for a page from last year, and who would otherwise have nothing to him, but Ziglar decided to give him depth and pathos in a way that many, many regulars at Amazing Spider-Man will never get. I respect the shit out of it and I hope my boy Zephyr gets to be cool in this story.

Well, anyway, all this to say-- Miles Morales is out of the event crossover mines and is good again, please read this one. Anansi is in it and he's very cool. Zephyrbros our time might be now.

#pedro's weekly comics reviews #marvel comics #miles morales #miles morales comics #spider-man #miles morales spider-man

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volfoss · 1 year ago

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Leaving it up to Tumblr to choose my next comic chronology in like... 2 months when I'm free of green lantern (2 months is not very generous I fear)

Reasoning under the cut :3 (very long)

Duke- pretty short (less than 200 issues), I really like his character from what I've seen of him. I think it will also be hell (as is the nature of most batman adjacent chronologies) but it'll be worth it... Nice and short one and also swag character

Jefferson- 1. Black lightning is very fun early on and 2. I've already made the spreadsheet so I just have to read it. He's just like... A very cool character and I like him a lot so far. I just am gods scaredest soldier with long chronos (which his isn't too bad but it's ALSO batman adjacent and those are so scary)

Barbara - my best friend Babs but also if I have to reread the killing joke I AM killing Alan Moore ok. In theory I love her SOOOO much. In practice I think the fact I'm having to keep a "how bad is the disability rep" counter next to each issue says a lot. Unfortunately. Also already made this spreadsheet but I think it would be a very bad and good time.

Clint- again in theory would be fun. He seems right up my alley but alas if I have to see Tony Stark I do fly into a blind rage. And unfortunately I think he appears a lot... And also unfortunately I think I would suffer due to blonde man disorder ok (as I always do)

Silhouette+Aaron- package deal bc they're siblings. I've already started this one and then stopped because whoever is writing the early stuff SHOULD go to hell for what they're doing. For those unfamiliar, silhouette is one of the only heroes I've ever seen using forearm crutches (pretty awesome) and her power is that she can kind of travel via shadow iirc? Which would be really cool if they didn't like... Make her lose all her clothes and mobility aids when she's doing this. Which is why I quit. But she's very very cool minus that (and in my mind... I know she's written better later on) and her brother is his own can of worms (in... Definitely a way). In theory tho I rly gotta get through their stuff

Theodore - first off: I am a FIEND for marvel 70s horror comics. Second off: he is better than swamp thing. Third off: his big red eyes. But to be serious though like .. the Steve Gerber and Gerry Conway era of man thing is SO good and like .. political in an interesting way. I just need motivation to get around to it. Also he's cutesy ok!!!

Jason Blood- another consequence of the 70s horror era fan but this guy has CRAZY lore. He's a medieval knight who got possessed by a demon thanks to Merlin and then he's just lived through the centuries and become an occult guy. Reasons why I stopped this one - sometimes old horror comics are bad and horrible. And also a like 60 issue Garth Ennis written series. But I do really wanna finish his stuff bc he's like .. DC's version of Hellstrom (which. Genuinely awesome character, if you're interested in older horror comics def check his original run out <- my plug for my silly husband hellstrom who sucks so much or whatever. He's rly good tho seriously)

Jennifer - I've already made her spreadsheet and started it but the writers are soooo fucking bad most of the time. It's actually horrific. Pros for her- pretty good character when written well (her hellcat series stuff was REALLY nice for me. But I'll always hype up patsy walker aka hellcat at any chance) cons for her- the misogyny ... And my reward for finishing it is watching the she hulk show. So take that as you will

Dracula- I started his stuff bc I was PROMISED Gerry Conway (who is like.. one of my top 5 writers. He does amazing old horror comics and made a bunch of very cool characters). And then he left like 2 issues in and it went downhill. Some of the same authors who did some of the good (other marvel vampire who is redacted for my own safety ok) issues did stuff for drac. In theory this would be silly campy 70s horror comics fun. In practice oh my god I am gaining new authors to hate so bad...

#twist rambles #comics posting #<- my tag for well... posting comics... bc i need one lol #me outting my scary comic taste...#sorry this is so long... if anyone reads my reasoning im so sorry bc thats like... 20 years long #sorry my tbr list is so long and scaryyyyy

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whatyourusherthinks · 8 months ago

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My Adventures With Superman Season One Review

Yes! I finally caught up with My Adventures With Superman! I waited for the entirety of the second season to come out so I could binge it and then I got to busy, but no matter! I've seen it now. It's just a shame that everyone I know who is into superheroes isn't into cartoons or anime, and everyone I know who are into cartoons and anime aren't into superheroes. Oh well, I guess I'll stew on my feelings forever...

OH WAIT I HAVE A BLOG WHERE I TALK ABOUT MEDIA. I CAN GUSH ABOUT IT HERE. Yeah, I am so hyped about this show, and now I'm going to make it everyone else problem! Muahahahahahaha! Yes, yes, you're truly the Lex Luthor of Tumblr, now get on with it. Fine, begrudge me a little fun Buggnutz.

Superman, when written well, is like my third or fourth DC superhero ever. Even if you include the Marvel and third party characters, he easily still makes it into my top ten, maybe top five. He does have an issue with the fact that it seems like half the comic book and other medium writers just not knowing what to do with him, which is so stupid. He's a pulpy space hero whose character is just good ol' farmboy with the power equivalent to God, how can you not find something interesting to do with him without ruining his personality. Not calling out any Zack Snyders I mean names. Anyway, this really long winded and rambling opening is just so I can establish my single criteria for this show: Is Superman in My Adventures With Superman what I would consider to be a well written Superman? If he is, I can easily recommend the show. If not, well, it gets the reject.

Seriously. This is like the only criteria I want. Obviously it would be a better show if classic Superman stuff makes it in and that Jimmy Olsen isn't sidelined (or shot in the head ZACK WHY DID YOU DO THAT YOU MOTHERFUC-) or if they did more obscure DC fanservice, but it isn't necessary. I just want a good, well-written Superman.

Oh, real quick technical stuff. I'm gonna review every episode individually and just quickly relay my thoughts in several paragraphs. Also, yeah I will rank every episode. If you've read my Columbo reviews you know what to expect. I'm splitting this review up into three parts, one about the episodes of the first season, one about the episodes in the second seasons, and one that's the wrap up and episodes ranking. Seriously? Why aren't you just doing one post? I don't wanna half to skip past three different posts just because I don't care about Superman. Well I was gonna do one post, but I ended up having a LOT to say about each episode. Trust me, it's best split up. (Also you could just blacklist tags you want to ignore.)

Season 1 Episode 1 'Adventures of a Normal Man Pt. 1'

Four minutes. It took four minutes for me to realize that this is the best Superman has been written outside of comics in 16 years! (I'm being generous and assuming Superman was well written throughout the entirety of the DCAU. I've unfortunately watched very little of it.) His entire character, ideals, and motivation are set up perfectly and all he does is get ready for work, worry about appearing normal, and sav e a cat from a tree. This is peak Clark Kent. This is Superman perfected. THIS IS A GREAT SHOW. And they not only nail Superman, they nail almost everything surrounding Superman! Who's the second person we see? Jimmy Olsen, Superman's best pal and the third most, maybe second most depending on the story, important side character in the Superman mythos. I love the juxtaposition of Lois and Clark getting ready in the morning. I like that Clark is clumsy especially with his powers. The comics kinda vary with how well young Clark gaining and adjusting to his powers are written, but this. Mm, this is good. And Lois and Clark are a cute potential couple immediately after meeting. I love that after falling in love at first sight, Clark immediately tries the "Heeeyyyyy" side lean, realizes immediately it's a bad idea, and then reverts back to his normal awkward self. I also love how diverse the cast and the background characters are. I think it is an awesome worldbuilding detail that in Metropolis people have like holographic phones and clear glass computers, and that there is little cleaner robots all over, and how the cars look kinda future-y, but it's still somewhat restrained and not like "a million years in the future" future-y. Jimmy just has a regular camera, even though there's probably like super 3D holographic cameras in this world. Or at least a more powerful camera on his phone. The leads have such good chemistry right off the bat. Not even just Jimmy and Lois with Clark, Lois and Jimmy have good rapport. The animation is super good and I absolutely love how expressive the characters are. And of course there is a lot of fanservice and deep cuts for comic fans. The second signifier I have that the writers knew what they were doing and loved the source material was when the Newskid Legion showed up. Please writers do a... Actually I'm save this.

There are some changes the show makes to give it it's own identity, and I love them as well. I already mentioned the diversity of the cast. While Jimmy has been black before, I'm pretty sure that this is the first time that Lois hasn't been white (At least the first time she wasn't white from the get go. There's a horrendously racist comic from the Silver Age I think where Lois Lane does blackface to get African Americans in Metropolis to talk to her for an interview. I'm not making that up.) and that's awesome. They don't do it in this episode, but they have her make various cultural signifiers of her new Korean nationality. I just like seeing cultures being expressed in little ways especially when it is a culture not focused on too often. This series is just a magical girl anime but with Superman instead of Sailor Moon. And nothing crazy fucked up has happened yet. The show balances fighting giant robots and supervillains with little meet-cute moments with Clark and Lois and interpersonal drama, investigating via character interactions, and dealing with personal problems. Almost every character is changed in someway from the comics, and I like every change. Admittedly it is mostly superficial stuff, like race and gender, but sometimes character backstories or personalities are shaken up. The big one in the pilot is Jimmy, who's super into conspiracies and we learn in later episodes that he has a social media channel where he talks about aliens and reports on Superman. I really like this characterization for him, not only does it give Jimmy his own thing without having to create a whole cosmology like Jack Kirby did for the New Gods, but it's entertaining way to insert some easter eggs too. I like they way they showcase Clark getting more of his powers. Not only does he get it in moments of desperation where he really needs to PROTECT someone else (Very rarely is it because he's trying to survive a situation, it's almost always because he is trying to save someone. And sometimes he's not even trying to save Lois, because he cares about everyone, not just his girlfriend ZACK!) but I like the blue glow-y effects. It kinda reminds me of solar radiation for whatever reason.

Of course, because I was watching this episode for like, the eighth time doing this review, I do have some nitpicks. Why is Clark wearing glasses as a kid before realizing he has powers? Does he actually have bad eyesight? Pa doesn't wear glasses in this version (Which I totally wish he did, that's a bit of characterization from the comics that either Clark wears glasses not only for secret identity purposes but also to emulate his father or because he can use Pa's old ones without needed to fake a prescriptions, and I think it would have helped balance out both Ma and Pa supporting Clark as Superman. As it stands right now Ma is the main support and Pa is mostly comic relief, which is perfectly fine but I'd just like a little more, y'know. Pa dying in the comics is supposed to be a huge deal for Superman and as it stands right now I don't think the audience would have that emotional punch as they could if they decide to do that in a future episode. Jesus Roan this is an incredibly long sidebar. SORRY NOT SORRY I LIKE SUPERMAN A LOT.) so am I just supposed to assume that this Clark had bad eyesight before he got his super senses? Actually, if that actually is the case and it turns out he's actually not physically peak compared to most Kryptonians that'd be pretty funny and a cool bit of characterization. I'm also not a super fan (puns lol) of mixing CGI with regular 2D animation, but it's not too bad. In this episode they do add drawn outlines to the models to so it fits better, but I still think it's weird. I'm also not really a huge fan of Livewire, so I don't really care that she's positioned to be Superman's first big villain. I mean it makes sense why it is her for later storylines, but with the way she's set up in the pilot I'd want her to be replaced with Toyman. Not only would that make more sense for this individual plot I like him as a character and villain more. Livewire is better in future episodes, and speaking of which, so does Jimmy. In the pilot he's just played as a common sense competent comic relief, there to make jokes about aliens and cryptids and also give Clark a hard time about his obvious crush on Lois. I mean, each episode is only a little over 20 minutes so I am cutting it slack, but so much Superman adaptations either sideline or completely cut out Jimmy Olsen that I was worried the first time watching. Plus the editing and pacing can be wack sometimes. There's literally a part where Jimmy and Lois look up to see a crane moving a giant robot from a distance, and in the next cut they are right under the crane. Did they teleport? AlsoLoisshould'vecalledClarkSmallvilleattheendoftheepisode I KNOW IT DOESN'T MATTER but I would've liked it.

Okay I see what you mean about 'having a lot to say'. YEAH. Count your blessing that barely any superhero movies are coming out this year.

Season 1 Episode 2 'Adventures of a Normal Man Pt. 2'

Haha they call a Conspiracy Board a Murder Board. Wait, is it actually supposed to be called that? Wikipedia calls it an Evidence Board or a Murder Map... Anyway, not important. Ma Kent is the best mother to every exist. The moment kid Clark is like "I'm not you're son?" She was like "Hush now baby boy you're totally ours no matter what a creepy hologram says!" Speaking of which, Jor-El speaking only Kryptonian is a good touch, but I feel like they made him extra aggressive early one just to mess with the audience? Like they wanted Superman's bio dad is actually nice to be a twist which is... dumb. I'll get into why when I talk about the second season. Jimmy and Lois get some good one-on-one time together (even if half of their conversations are about Clark) and their dialogue is quick and witty, just the way I like it! Anyway I really love that Ma makes Clark wear briefs over his space costume. That is such a good little touch. Superman absolutely needs the shorts on his costume this is a hill I will die on. (Yes, they do add a lot Martha. I agree.) Everyone has already touched upon it too, but giving Clark a transformations sequence for when he got his super suit is great, 10 outta 10 choice there. A 10 outta 10 choice I actually like more is Superman cleaning up after the finale fight. This is what I mean by this show understanding Superman. Clark is there to help. He's not here to punch everyone into submission. He makes sure everything is fixed. He takes the time to make sure everyone is okay. (Usually, they actually cover that in later episodes.) Including the his villains, by the way! He'd rather take a hit than hurt anyone. He's a hero who wouldn't call himself a hero. That is Superman. Not a brute who mopes around because no one likes him who kills anyone he thinks is a threat to this one person he's obsessed with ZACK!

Oh yeah, They introduce you Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke the Terminator in this episode. I feel like I should have a hot take like everyone else has about him, but I don't. He's fine, he works with what they are doing with him in the series. I love sassy villains but I get why fans of the character from the comics would be annoyed by his portrayal in this show. I don't really like that he has a mech suit to keep pace with Superman, I wish he was just so skilled and crafty (plus has a healing factor from a super soldier serum) that he can fight Superman. But like all the villains are tech based in this show, and I get mechs are more anime. Eh, I'm generally positive towards him. His fight with Livewire was cool. It's a shame he becomes kinda a stooge after this episode since he his ending line was super cool. I also don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but I really like Perry White. Honestly he might be the character that is the least changed from other Superman stories, because as far as I can tell the only difference between Perry in the comics and Perry here is that he's black, which is something other adaptations have done.

Again, nitpick time. Why does Jimmy switch between using his phone and his camera to take pictures? Yeah he took the one picture of him and Lois to send to Clark, but why not just have him use this phone all the time? This is also the episode which establishes him as Flamebird, an online streamer which is major plot point in a bunch of episodes, and most phones have excellent cameras nowadays, so it would just make sense for him to always use it. I'm don't love this version of Superman's S. I don't hate it either I guess, but I prefer it actually look like an S instead of this angular whatever. Actually, if they try to do the "It's the El family crest"/"It's a symbol for hope" that would actually work better than it does in any other adaptation since it looks unlike any other version of his symbol. I think it would have been better if Ma added the Symbol to his costume like she does the shorts. Hell, She should've added all the Red to his costume. All the blue with a little yellow highlights are what Jor-El gives Clark, and Ma sees it and is like "Mm my boy ain't going out there in a skintight suit, put these shorts on. And while we're at it I'm gonna add a little flair to the chest here. What did that Lois girl call you, Superman? Well clearly it needs to be an S then, and oh! I best I have an old linen I can modify for a cape." etc... Would've been cute is my point. It makes even less sense that Jor-El would give Clark a cape when we meet Kara in the second season and she doesn't have one until she starts cribbing off of Clark. The last nitpick comes with the anime territory, but I don't really like the over the top expressions. Like where the eyes bulge out the head, and the mouths get super big, you know what I mean. Yes, it's just because I don't like anime, but I honestly feel like they undercut how expressive the characters usually are anyway. The best faces come from Perry when he's throwing Lois and Jimmy out of his office at the end of the episode, and they didn't have to resort to any big head chibi stuff.

Season 1 Episode 3 'My Interview With Superman'

This episode starts with Superman saving the pilot of a crashing zeppelin! I'm going to say it in every episode rundown, this is peak. Superman. I love that it's a blimp too, like in this technologically forward city they still have the most explosive means of transportation around. That's so funny to me. Speaking of funny, Intergang is my favorite villains in the whole season. They're like if Team Rocket were punks instead of theater kids. This is also the episode where they start getting into anime tropes, but with Clark instead of whatever anime blow-up doll. Mm that comment will age well. They're fictional simmer down. Anyway, I'm of course referring to Lois accidently walking into Clark's massive chest. I'm being a dick, but I actually love this entire interaction between Clark and Lois, it's just super funny. Everything from Lois being too hyper focused on trying to get Superman for an interview she completely misses that Clark says he'll do anything for her, to Clark trying to catch himself from doing the Superman voice (He doesn't just hide behind a pair of glasses people!), to "It was a long jog.". Jimmy is a great wingman, I love how he slides out of frame when Clark and Lois are flirting. I hope Clark does him the same curtesy when he and Kara start flirting. Another little detail I like are the guns the cops and security guards have being like electro-pistols instead of regular ones. I'd say it's because of kids television censorship, but this show airs on Adult Swim, and they show WAAAY more heinous stuff than guns on there. Ever watch Moral Orel? Clark freaking out when he finds out Jimmy and Lois have been getting captured on purpose was pretty funny too. It's something that could've been a good reoccurring gag if they kept Clark's identity a secret longer, but I'll talk about that later. Superman versus Intergang was a pretty awesome fight. For starters I love that Clark give the villains a chance to surrender before even coming close to them, very Superman move there. Heck the security guard kinda does that too, I wasn't expecting that nuance. Second, I really like how Kryptonian tech looks. It's kind of a shame they aren't going to do a Fortress of Solitude because it could look super cool. I'll get into more details later, but there's some other worldbuilding stuff that is awesome. I don't even mind that Intergang do counterproductive stuff in the fight, since they are established to be massive dumbasses. Anyway, onto the nitpicks!

I don't like Steve Lombard and Cat Grant. To be fair, I don't really like them in the comic either, and they are slightly better here than they are there. But they are still caricatures in a sea of more well rounded characters. Steve does get some nice moments in later episodes with Jimmy, and at least Ronnie is reasonable here instead of an obnoxious nerd. I don't find their introduction particularly funny either, they only funny thing is when the gang try to copy it and Clark absolutely wants to fly away but he can't. It is weird that swiping their press passes let's the gang into the prison. They look nothing like their counterparts. I'm thinking that the animators/story boarders didn't talk to the writers that closely for this one. I'm also a little mixed about Clark being completely straight-laced. On the one hand, if feel like it comes from a misinterpretation of Superman that's always a boy scout and never does anything that isn't by the book, which simply isn't true. Clark is not only willing to bend the rule of law when he is doing something he thinks is right (Hell, 40% of Luthor's schemes involve tricking Superman into doing something illegal to get the public angry at him, and it's not like Clark doesn't know what the laws are.), but he's actually mischievous in a lot of stories. He's a trickster hero, especially in the Golden Age. (Here we make a token nod to the ending of 'What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way', otherwise known as 'Superman Versus The Elite' for people who don't want to read.) Also is it weird that Silver Banshee reminds me of Red from OSP? Yes. Drat.

Season 1 Episode 4 'Let's Go to Ivo Tower, You Say'

Let me get this out of the way. I think my favorite change from the source material is swapping Lois's affection for the Superman/Clark identities around. If you don't know, in the comics Lois Lane is usually in love with Superman or feels attraction to him, while she doesn't really think about Clark Kent at all. (Unless she knows Clark is Superman, obviously. There's probably a fifty-fifty chance Lois knows in any given story.) For the first half, Lois is super crushing on Clark, and absolutely hates/is frustrated by Superman. Which I think makes a whole lot more sense. It's been said by others, and I agree which is why I'm repeating it, that Superman is Clark Kent's customer service voice. That's such a good way of putting the energy the best written Supermen give off. It's not necessarily professional, but there's no vulnerability or emotion necessarily to connect to. This isn't some "My secret identity is the real mask" bullshit, no! Clark is a guy who wants to help and Superman is the way he can help. You fall in love with the stranger the chats you up in the bar, the bartender who politely serves you your beer. (Hopefully, I mean.) This is another thing I kinda wish stuck around long, but again I'll go into more depth later. Anyway, I adore how Lois is kind of a dumb ass in this universe. I mean, Clark all but tells her he's Superman at the end of the last and beginning of this episode, but it still takes her a minute to figure it out. To be fair, her track record is much worse in other universes, and the story does acknowledge how oblivious she is. But that doesn't change the fact that's she didn't realize that the guy she's all moony over has the exact same eyes, hair, and build as the alien she's chasing. I guess that is something that works better with Lois being in love with Superman not Clark now that I think about it. I think this is the first episode with the theme song. I like it, I wish they changed the animation for Season 2. This is a gala episode too, so all the gang gets all dolled up. I unabashedly love episodes like this. Not only because it's fun to see characters you like in fancy suits and dresses (And also whatever the clothes Lois is wearing is called I'm sorry I really like the outfit I'm just an uncultured swine so I'm unfamiliar with it.), but also because there is a much higher chance than average for a dance action scene! Unfortunately there isn't one of those in this episode, but there is an incredibly cute moment where Lois talks about her dad while fixing Clark's suit jacket and it might be my favorite moment of the season. By the way, not to brag or anything, but I knew who Lois's dad was the second she mentioned him in this episode. Because you read about him in the comics, right? ...Well I also knew the assistant was Lex Luthor! Yeah everyone did dumb ass. You take the fun out of everything Buggnutz. I kinda like that this Dr. Ivo is basically Tony Stark if he even more of a douche bag, and I absolutely LOVE that Clark goes straight for the throat after he insults Lois. Also, Ivo's definition of the "finer bachelorettes" is the thiccer ladies, nice. Gross. Don't hate, I've learned to appreciate the finer things. Anyway, I think tying Parasite to Dr. Ivo was a really smart way to fold some more Superman mythos together. I always like it when comic book adaptations streamline some of the more esoteric corners of the stories. My only nitpick with this episode is that the Daily Planet seems to write a lot of interest pieces about bachelors and bachelorettes. This is probably just because the gang are interns/new journalists so far, so they aren't being given any super heavy-hitting assignments. But I still think it's weird that the regular paper seems to care so much about who's single. I'm with you Lois, get thrown out for asking about corruption charges and criminal connections. Anyway this episode has the funniest end credit picture okay ready for the next episode?

Season 1 Episode 5 'You Will Believe a Man Can Lie'

First, love the title. You've been saying love a lot. WELL THE SHOW'S GOOD, WATCH IT. Second, finally a Jimmy centric storyline! Great Rao my boy has needed this! I will admit, this is usually the kind of episode I hate. It's Lois and Clark having a million misunderstandings while they ignore Jimmy. And Steve Lombard plays a huge part in this episode too. But I don't hate this episode. In fact, I like it a lot. For one, MAWS is an ongoing storyline show, so there is considerable build up to Clark and Lois having this particular confrontation, unlike one-off story shows where these kinds of conflicts come out of nowhere. Also, this is a perfectly understandable confusion. Clark thinks he's got this secret identity on lock and since he and Lois had a really intimate ending to the last episode so the only thing on his mind is asking her out, and Lois is so ADD-coded in this show that OF COURSE the only way she thinks to make Clark reveal he's Superman is to trick him into revealing it, and when that doesn't work, jump off the fucking roof of the Daily Planet. And since they are both so preoccupied with each other, they naturally forget about Jimmy and this weekend he's been excited for. Besides, Jimmy and Steve are a surprisingly good odd couple, them together might be the funniest duo in the whole show. Speaking of comedy, this is definitely the funniest episode of the first season. I giggle uncontrollably at the "Me, you and Superman in a room together. At the same time." line every time. LOIS LITERALLY HANDCUFFS HERSELF TO SUPES THIS EPISODE IS HILAROUS. Also, I kinda got my dance fight I wanted from the last episode. Speaking of fights, the final fight in this episode is super cool. I'd have to think on it more, but it might be my favorite fight in the show. I don't even have any nitpicks about this episode. Not even when Lois jumps off the roof? Are you kidding? That's classic Lois Lane stuff! Besides, they point out how fucking insane it was immediately after she does it, and it makes sense with the backstory they are setting up for her, and it's been established she does dangerous and reckless things when chasing something she wants. Why would I be annoyed by this? Because Clark could've changed into Superman, rescued her, then changed back. He's totally fast enough to do that. No he isn't. If he was, couldn't do like an after image thing where he pretends to be in two places at once? And even if he was fast enough to do that, Lois would notice that Superman has the same "shaving" scars as Clark. I win yet again Buggnutz! Grrr! One day I shall defeat you in this witty repartee!

Season 1 Episode 6 'My Adventures With Mad Science'

FINALLY THE BEST CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW ARRIVE! I was not expecting Monsieur Mallah and the Brain to be in the show. (When the ape silhouette appeared at the end of the last episode, I thought it was gonna be the Ultra Humanite.) And to double down, I was not expecting them to switch from a somewhat fraught doomed evil couple, to a sweet old, yet catty, true love. I keep saying, but this is fucking PEAK! Seriously, I goddamn absolutely LOVE this Mallah and Brain, I'm so happy they came back in season two, and I can't wait for their episode in every season. Right? They have to be in at least one episode every season now, since you rolled back the best ending for them to have together. Plus they both have, like, the best lines in the entire show. Maybe it is just their accents, but I was cracking up every other line they said. Also, human Brain is hot? Seriously, they are so good it makes up for Lois being kind of a bitch for the entire episode. *Sigh* She has good reason to be mad and it's not egregious, but she's still a little too catty for my liking. At least this episode's main plot is a Jimmy focused story, and it's so damn good. It was sorely needed for the character, and the support Mallah (and the Brain too a little bit) gives him is so sweet, even after he kinda trivializes his backstory. And I actually really like that Jimmy new Clark was Superman since they met! Not only is Jimmy usually in the know in the comics, I think it makes a lot of sense here! Jimmy does usually act like he knows Clark is Superman, and doesn't want to let on that he does. Except he was totally freaking out trying to find Clark in 'My Interview With Superman'. Yeah but did he see Clark fly out of the fight? Maybe he assumed be got blown out of the back? My only nitpick (besides Lois's attitude in this episode) is that OMACs are in this episode. And they don't work in an "OMAC, Attack!" line. You're complaining about the weirdest shit in this review. Yeah. I know.

So we got bored hiding, like, one year in and made a bunch of mutants, okay?

Season 1 Episode 7 'Kiss Kiss Fall In Portal'

Damn, I wasn't expecting this show to bring in the Multiverse this heavy in the first season. Neither was I expecting Mr. Mzyixpiddle... Myzerlickdib... Myxerpit... Mr. Mxyzptlk. Mzmer- Mxyzptlk. Miamar. Dude they say it in the episode. Whatever! Anyway, Clark fretting over the perfect date with Lois is cute, so is him immediately dropping all pretenses when the villain pretends that Lois is in trouble and only Superman can save her. I actually think it's super interesting in the grand canon to have a multiversal strike team of Lois Lanes and Jimmy Olsens that stop bad Supermen. And I like... Mr. M's... Design in this episode. It is very anime, but I think it works. Also the implication that this character is the same as every other version we've seen from every iteration, it weirdly makes sense that there is infinite of our 4th dimensional space, but one one 5th dimensional space. And I actually kinda like that they make him seem like a potential good guy at the beginning of the episode. Not only did we just have Monsieur Mallah and the Brain in the previous episode plant the idea that this adaptation can change some alliances of pre-existing characters around, but they do show us the League of Lois Lanes stalking this universe's Lois and Jimmy, thus planting the idea that they could've been kidnapped. Plus Clark doesn't get fooled for too long, nor is he tricked into doing anything too stupid, so he's not extra dumb this episode. This is a thing that doesn't happen too often but I kinda love when it does, is a different version of a character introducing themselves as themselves. The "I'm you, from the future!" moment. Oh man, this is also the first time Krytonite shows up in the show, and this is probably the coolest it's been. Ever. First, it's just the green variety which is absolutely for the best. And while it effects Superman in the way it usually does, I really like the extra effect of more Kryptonite crystals growing out of his skin. This isn't the first time something like this has happened to Superman, but if you want to know about first time for ideas. You first see it in a later episode, but even Kryptonian tech is effected by it, and in the same way. That's something that seems so obvious yet I don't think it's been done before. I also really like Lois and Clark have this sweet romantic moment in the middle of the massive chaotic brawl with a literal chaos god. That was fun.

Here are my nitpicks: Why you hating on talking gorillas Clark? The one you met was incredibly lovely! And also left to travel the multiverse for a bit. If anything you should be worried/dog on giant robots, those seem to be everywhere. The League also seems to jump to a lot of ridiculous conclusions in this episode. Like they know Mr. M is a trickster, but they completely discount the possibility that Clark is being fooled by him. It's clearly because they've seen too many evil Supermen in the multiverse. That's another thing that kinda bugs me, and by no means is this exclusive to this show, but why does everyone assume that there are just as many evil Supermen as good ones? There's like 4 evil Supermen, 5 if you wanna count Superboy-Prime, and countless other good and righteous versions of Clark. Yet so many writers just assumes that the main Superman is the only good one. My point is, I will not stand for this Calvin Ellis slander.

Season 1 Episode 8 'Zero Day: Part One'

Yes, Clark gets his super hearing in this episode! It was so smart to make this a power Clark gets later. Not only does this give us the great line "I can hear everyone. And Jimmy! Jimmy! Jimmy! They have problems." but it's cool to see the issue being Clark now noticing everyone's issues and trying to help rather than just plain old sensory overload. Roan. Plus almost all the villains from previous episodes show back up again, even if they are just stooges for General Lane. It's just nice to see them all team up, y'know. Roan, hang on- Also I'm glad they go out of their way to show that Superman still goes out of his way to save cats in trees and help lost little girls, even while he is trying to investigate bigger problems and can hear every disaster as it's happening. Roan Vicki Vale is in this episode- Also, hey Lex Luthor is back! And he's a massive little bitch! I'll talk more about him later, but for now I'll just say I love this characterization for him. Roan talk about the potential- I actually really like the emotional conflict of this episode. They took what BvS tried to do and actually made it a good story. Like it makes sense that people start to turn on Superman a bit based on what happens in the episode, but the bad thing he did isn't out of character for him. (Basically Clark tries to save an invisible guy and ends up causing a truck to crash, harming no one.) There's a bunch of little moments in this show that are taking ideas that stories of a lower quality had, and making them actually good. Zack. Roan Bat- And my god is the darkest hour of the episode good. You jump from Lois accidently insulting Clark to Supes getting jumped by Task Force X and it's so damn bleak. The atmosphere in the episodes is actually lowkey amazing, but I think it stands out the best here. Metropolis immediate gets overcast after Superman saves Mist and it's gloomy until the end of the episode. ROAN! WHAT? Talk about Batman! Why? This is a Superman show. They have Vicki Vale in this episode. So what? She's a Batman character. Yeah, and? Don't you want to see Batman in the show? Absolutely fucking not. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure if they did it it would be in a really smart and entertaining way, but not only is Batman way too overdone, but adding other heroes I feel like requires set-up and plotlines that the would take away from the Superman stories. Is it so wrong to want my Superman show to just be about him?

Season 1 Episode 9 'Zero Day: Part Two'

...Y'know something I realized. Zero Day (both parts) is directed to Snyder fans who were complaining about the show early on. And there is one scene in particular I think proves it. The scene where Clark learns about Zero Day. See, General Lane shows Clark his backstory, to with Clark's first response is "All those people got hurt, that's horrible!" Y'know like Superman would. And General Lane, the bad guy, immediately thinks he is lying. Because how realistic is it that Superman would actually care? Not at all. *Sigh* You're missing the point Buggnutz. First off, the point of Superman isn't to be realistic. He's an alien in a blue and red jumpsuit who can fly and shoot lasers from his eyes (Sidenote, I like how minimally Clark uses his laser eyes in the show. I feel like way too many writers rely on it to be Superman's only attack, and he never uses it for utility reasons. Probably because it's the closest Superman has to like, a gun. Which is fucked up. Nah, this show so far has used it in like two episodes and it was more useful fixing things than it was attacking bad guys. He should use his freeze breath more though.) he's already not a realistic character. Secondly, the whole idea behind Superman is he's the hero who can do anything and will always make the right choices. Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster were two Jewish men and Superman debuted in comics in 1938. Think about who they were. Think about the times they lived in. Which do you think was their intention: An overpowered figure that would defend everyone from the tyrannies of evil? Or a nihilistic Jesus who only saves people on a whim, and actually is the real problem you guys. Superman is a pop culture icon at this point though, he has evolved past what his creators intended. Sure, but why did he become a pop culture icon? Besides, my last point is the hard-hittingest. What character is making the same point as you are Buggnutz. General Lane. And what is his role in the story? Okay, I see you're point- No no no. Answer me. *Sigh* He's the antagonist. EXACTAMOI! Haven't you heard of a bad guy with sympathetic and understandable motivations? Of course I have *eyeroll* but that's not point the show is trying to make. Showing off that General Lane has a reason to believe what he does isn't the point. Not believing Superman is being genuine when he says he cares is a bad thing is the point.

I like how the big bad villain of the season is Parasite technically. Not only is his new backstory really fun, but it makes sense that he's a greater physical threat than all the other villains. Plus Parasite become a kaiju is fucking awesome! Parasite, in my opinion, can be kid of hit or miss in the comics. He's either a really interesting threat, or just a dumbass thug. I also think switching his power to absorbing energy and converting it into physical mass rather than "He touch you you die" is super smart. I also really like how subtle the show is with his weaknesses. Sure, Kryptonite gets a big spotlight in 'Kiss Kiss Fall In Portal' but they're never like "This mineral is making me feel weak!" or "That rock is hurting Superman!" or whatever. They just showcase the effects and the audience draws their own conclusions. I'm pretty sure the only time they name drop the red sun weakness is in 'My Adventures With Mad Science' and it's not in relation to Superman at all. And magic... Well magic hasn't shown up at all in the show yet. Jimmy helping save the day is awesome, I wish this wasn't the first time he made a major contribution to the solutions. Luckily it becomes much more frequent in the next season. My only nitpick is more related for a season two episode than this one, so I'll save it for later.

Season 1 Episode 10 'Hearts of the Fathers'

Alright, to start out, I like that the Parasite shell is still around. It give the world a more realistic feel, y'know? "To commemorate the time our city also got destroyed by a giant purple bug-lizard, we decided to leave it's petrified molting up in the city park where Superman stopped it." Next, I like how the gang get promoted to being reporters. I just like this Perry White in general, it feels like what they were trying to do with Lawrence Fishburne in BvS but actually good. Zack. (I think I already mentioned that.) I love that Ma and Pa are instantly just in love with Lois as Clark is. Ew. I meant in a nurturing, parental sense Buggnutz, getcher mind outta da gutta. Also Pa fussing over the turkey is cute. Jimmy refusing to get pulled into everyone's drama was great, I always love when characters subvert plot conveniences that are only used to artificially increase drama. And great Scott, the shot of Superman pushing his ship above the clouds! It looked so good! When I first watched the show, I was really confused why Zero Day wasn't the season finale, but after watching the episode, I totally get why. But here's my nitpick. I think the way they play the reveal of General Lane being Lois's dad is really good, mostly. I like that Clark is freaking out the entire time, I love that Ma fucking HATES General Lane without even realizing that he kidnapped Clark, and I love Jimmy's role in all of this. But how the fuck did General Lane not realize Clark Kent is Superman by the end of the episode? In the next season there is a bunch of conflict between the General and Clark because he doesn't realize Clark is Superman, which not only seems out of place due to the ending of this episode, but seems out of character for General Lane. Like the show has displayed that he is a really smart guy. But he can't put together that the person he is living with who is constantly sneaking out and spent Thanksgiving with at a middle of nowhere farm is the Superhero he was chasing for a whole season and who's spaceship just so happens to be at the middle of nowhere farm he spent that Thanksgiving at? REALLY? And I totally thought the character at the end was gonna be Zod. I think it was intended to be, but they changed their minds in between seasons. Eh... I'll get more into it in the next post.

And those are my thoughts on Season One. In a couple days I'll have both my Season Two and Wrap Up posts for the show. Probably. Thanks for reading!

#My Adventures With Superman #Season One #Recommended Show

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henlp · 1 year ago

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2023 Show Round-up

.Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel - Flawed, overly quippy, amazing character work oozing from every pore. Surprising how many contemporary actors popped in these shows before they were big. (Worst - Buffy S01, Angel S04; Best - Buffy S06, Angel S03(?); Fav - Lorne);

.Gargoyles - While some credit is warranted for a show with dark tones and heavy consequences for a lot of characters (both main and secondary) sadly the inconsistent quality of the animation, heavily flawed execution of the action setpieces, messy magic system and power levels, makes this one not worth revisiting, save for the two moments of peak comedy;

.X-Men the Animated Series - In spite of some animation jank, and Jubilee making a terrible impression during the first two episodes, the show has surprisingly decent, albeit simplistic, character work. Execution is mostly okay, resolutions more hit-and-miss. Time travel plotlines make no fucking sense;

.Spicy City - Rounding off a Ralph Bakshi arc with one of his most engaging projects, if not his best altogether (though not being a writer or animator might be seen as a jab at the man). Five (out of six) episodes of tech-noir tales, exploring a harsh cyberpunk future and the choices of different characters. And also one about voodoo magic hands, I don't know what the fuck;

.American Dragon: Jake Long - This 2005 show, about a magical asian kid protector of the world of magic and humans (in the East Coast), is always taking one step forward and one step back. Not only is there a major shift from S01 to S02, but for every good story, there's a ridiculous contrivance; for every decent new design, something looks ridiculous; with proper character writing, mostly contradicting what's come before; for every funny joke, there's a lot of mid-2000s cringe to unbalance things;

.Fantastic Four the Animated Series - First season is atrocious: incredibly childish writing; awful, overused comedy lines; cheap, lame animation. Second season is a mild improvement, but does not justify ever rewatching the show;

.Iron Man the Animated Series - First season is somehow WORSE than the Fantastic Four's, almost like a parody of old He-Man, including a team of random heroes that do nothing, but with a less chidish tone (on the surface). Once again, second season is a mild improvement, with some focus on a core line-up of characters and recurring plot points, but fails to deliver anything of quality;

.The Incredible Hulk Animated Series - While toning down the Hulk's raging nature, making him more of a misguided soul looking for acceptance and peace, it does a perfectly serviceable job with a smaller scale narrative, exploring Bruce Banner's attempts to escape custody and cure himself of his gamma radiation alter-ego. Secong season is far less engaging and the quality dips. A big, green 'Okay' overall;

.Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated - For the most part, it's just the old show with a fresh coat of paint and extra teen drama that isn't sufficiently explored. The overaching plot is interesting and really comes into its own during the second season, but the individual episodic mysteries are still formulaic and lacking (with some exceptions). Not bad, but could be better, maybe if the runtime for each episode had been longer;

.Spider-Man The Animated Series - Not even close to Spectacular Spider-Man tier, several problems relating to character interactions and how they're written (special mention to the romance and Peter's 'inner' monologues). Still, it's the king of 90s Marvel cartoons for a reason, whether that's due to the comic book stories it adapted, or because it was more grounded and focused on the protagonist's struggles;

.My Life as a Teenage Robot - Blown away by how much I enjoyed this show, especially the comedy. Which is good, because it definitely leans more on the comedic toon shenanigans involving 'kidified' teen characters, than weighty stakes in plot-driven episodes (but even those are pretty well-executed, all things considered);

.Spider-Man Unlimited - It's fine. In spite of its 90s edgy coat of paint, and being a soft reboot/spiritual sequel to its predecessor, it doesn't have any eggregious issues, powers and arsenals are used accordingly, characters aren't too nuts with monologuing and have appropriate lines of dialogue. Cliffhanger ending is what mostly sours the experience;

.Animaniacs - Hit or miss, the nature of a variety show with several segments and casts of characters. But overall positive, as the good is often funny/clever, while the rest is somewhere between okay, to a tad repetitive. Favorites are the Warners, Slappy Squirrel, Chicken Boo, and lil' Flame;

.Johnny Bravo (S01) - Less exaggerated with its humor, compared to the second and third seasons, but in spite of the more simplistic artstyle it still manages to hit some really good jokes; a bunch of which kids wouldn't understand or appreciate, and are definitely more aimed at adults.

#2023 #retrospective #show round-up

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daydreamerdrew · 2 years ago

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Comics read this past week:

Marvel Comics:

Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? (2010) #1 and Siege: Captain America (2010) #1 and Captain America Theater of War: America First! (2009) #1 and Captain America (1968) #602-615

Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? #1 was published in December 2009, according to the Marvel Wiki. It was written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Butch Guice and Luke Ross.

In this issue Steve asks Bucky to continue being Captain America even though he has come back to life, and when Bucky resists Steve is able to convince him by saying, “Do it for me.”

Siege: Captain America #1 was published in April 2010, according to the Marvel Wiki. It was written by Christos N. Gage and drawn by Frederico Dallocchio. I didn’t feel like reading the entire Siege event but I did read this one-shot because it was about Bucky and Steve.

In this issue Steve and Bucky are fighting together and both are acting as Captain America for the sake of this event. Steve has the shield, but that’s meant to be a temporary situation. Bucky has an internal monologue during the fight about whether or not he should be Captain America which he interrupts himself with, “Careless. Pay attention. Quite whining and be a man.”

Captain America Theater of War: America First! #1 was published in December 2008, according to the Marvel Wiki. It was written and drawn by Howard Chaykin.

This issue was mainly focused on the William Burnside version of Captain America, who pretended to be the Steve Rogers version of Captain America during the 50s. I had already known that he pretended he was the same Captain America that fought during WWII when it was believed that Steve was dead and it wasn’t yet discovered that he was frozen in ice, and I had already known that he underwent plastic surgery to make himself look like Steve, but I hadn’t known before reading this issue that he also took on Steve Rogers as his civilian identity as well. It was strange to see him aware of the fact that it was a ruse, because by the time of his appearances in Captain America (2005) he really believed that he was Steve. Of most interest to me in this issue was seeing Nick Fury handle Red Scare politics.

And in this batch of main Captain America issues I went from January 2010 to February 2011, according to the Marvel Wiki. All were written by Ed Brubaker. Issues #602-605 were penciled by Luke Ross, issue #607 by Mitch Breitweiser, issue #611 by Daniel Acuna, and issues #606 and #608-610 and #612-615 were penciled by Butch Guice. Issue #602 was inked by Butch Guice and Luke Ross, issues #603-606 and #612 by Butch Guice, issue #607 by Butch Guice and Mitch Breitweiser, issue #608 by Rick Magyar and Mark Pennington, issue #609 by Rick Magyar, Andrew Hennessy, and Butch Guice, issue #610 Rick Magyar and Butch Guice, issue #611 by Daniel Acuna, issues #613 and #615 by Stefano Gaudiano, Butch Guice, and Rick Magyar, and issue #614 was inked by Stefano Gaudiano, Butch Guice, Tom Palmer, Mark Morales, Mike Perkins, and Rick Magyar.

In issue #606 Sam and Steve have a sort of intervention for Bucky because he’s being reckless in the field. Sam explains it as that, “He’s been taking dangerous chances… Like he’s got a harder edge or something. It’s almost like he wants to get hurt. Like he’s punishing himself.” This phrasing reminded me of Natasha’s observation of Bucky’s plan in Captain America (2005) #47 that involved allowing himself to get captured as being, “Because on some level… You think you deserve it. Think you deserve to be punished.” And during the intervention Steve says that he’s seen this behavior of “beating yourself up, and when that’s not good enough… you’re letting the bad guys do it for you” before, during WWII, “When you and I were the only ones to walk out of the Black Forest alive.”

Another bit of Bucky characterization I liked was Sam saying to Steve, “I don’t know how to talk to him about this stuff… Kid was raised in the military, he’s not big on talkin’ about feelings.” And then Steve thinking, during the intervention, “Never could admit any weakness, could you, Bucky? Must be something you learned, growing up in the military. Deny pain, deny fear… deny it all. Even when your brothers in arms know you’re lying.”

the Vanguard stories in Marvel Comics Presents (2007) #1-12

These issues were published across September 2007 to August 2008, according to the Marvel Wiki. All of the stories of the Vanguard storyline were written by Marc Guggenheim. The stories in issues #1-3 and #5 were drawn by David Wilkins, the stories in issues #4 and #7-12 were drawn by Francis Tsai, and the story in issue #6 was penciled by David Wilkins and inked by Francis Tsai. All of the stories were 8 pages.

Yelena has a minimal role in this story as a member of the team Vanguard. It isn’t explained how she joined the team, which is presented as a secret U.S. government-managed black-ops group doing work like assassinations in the Middle East. In the story in issue #3 it’s said that she’s believed to be a “former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent” that “got blown to pieces months ago,” referring to her death at the end of New Avengers (2005) Annual #1. In that issue there was nothing to imply her death wasn’t real and how she survived isn’t explained here. That storyline also never explained how Yelena became a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Yelena’s costume of black leather pants and a black leather crop top was slightly modified in this story to have a low v-cut. At the end of this story the entirety of Vanguard fakes their deaths and goes into hiding with the knowledge that if any one of them is caught then it’ll be known that they are all alive and they’ll all be hunted down, as the government is trying to cover up the team’s existence. About this Yelena says, “At least the world already thinks me dead.” One of the epilogues then reveals that one of them gets caught and the rest of the group then all know that they have limited time left, but my assumption is that this isn’t going to be relevant again in Yelena’s future appearances.

Thunderbolts (1997) #128-136 and Deadpool (2008) #8-9

These issues were published across January 2009 to September 2009, according to the Marvel Wiki. All were written by Andy Diggle. Issues #128-129 and #132 were penciled by Roberto de la Torre, issues #130-131 by Bong Bazo, issues #133-135 by Miguel Sepulveda, and issue #136 was penciled by Pop Mhan. Issues #128 and #132 were inked by Roberto de la Torre, issue #129 by Carlos Magno and Scott Hanna, issues #130-131 by Joe Pimentel, issues #133-135 by Miguel Sepulveda, and issue #136 was inked by Carlos Rodriguez. The Deadpool issues were part of a crossover storyline with Thunderbolts #130-131. Both were written by Daniel Way, penciled by Paco Medina, and inked by Juan Viasco.

This storyline has Natasha infiltrate the Thunderbolts, a team made up of criminals, which is being run by Norman Osborn, by impersonating Yelena and getting recruited to be the team’s field leader as her. However, it’s revealed in issue #135 that not only did Osborn know that “Yelena” was really Natasha the entire time, he gave her that mission in the first place by contacting her and assigning it to her while impersonating Nick Fury. This way he had Natasha in his clutches and he had her investigating his team and reporting back to him honestly in her messages to “Nick Fury.” And then at the end of issue #136 the real Yelena makes a brief appearance when it’s revealed that Osborn had her in his custody the entire time and is considering actually making her Thunderbolts’ next field leader, but it looks like that concept got completely dropped when that ended up being writer Andy Diggle’s last issue. My assumption is that this is also not going to be relevant again in Yelena’s future appearances. Also, “Yelena” has a new costume in these issues, which is a black full-body suit like Natasha’s but with an added mask that has 8 glowing lights on it to be spider-like, and which the real Yelena is also depicted as wearing in that cameo at the end.

Norman Osborn brings up Yelena’s death at the end of New Avengers (2005) Annual #1, saying, “You’re supposed to be dead, you know. Your S.H.I.E.L.D. file says you were vaporized fighting the Avengers.” Natasha-pretending-to-be-Yelena says, “That’s what people were supposed to think.” There’s nothing that indicates whether Natasha knows that the real Yelena really is alive or not.

Osborn also says, “Look at you. The most lethally effective agent ever to graduate from Moscone’s Red Room training facility… now reduced to stealing weapons from decommissioned S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities.” He then calls her a “warrior without a war,” as he segues into his job offering. I largely liked how Natasha portrayed Yelena. She was a very serious agent. At the same time, she was also doing a careful balancing act of running an assassination squadron and not actually getting anyone assassinated. Natasha also spoke in a slightly broken English, skipping over using “a” or “the” in sentences fairly often and at one point messing up a saying, which I don’t remember Yelena herself actually doing in any of her prior stories.

the Black Widow stories in Amazing Adventures (1970) #1-8

These issues were published across August 1970 to September 1971, according to the issue cover dates. The Black Widow stories in issues #1-3 were written by Gary Friedrich, in issue #4 by Mimi Gol, in issues #5-6 by Roy Thomas, in issue #7 by Gerry Conway, and the story in issue #8 was plotted by Gerry Conway and scripted by Roy Thomas. The Black Widow stories in issues #1-2 were penciled by John Buscema and inked by John Verpoorten, in issues #3-5 were penciled by Gene Colan and inked Bill Everett, in issue #6 was penciled by Don Heck and inked by Sal Buscema, and the stories in issues #7-8 were penciled by Don Heck and inked by Bill Everett. And all of the stories were 10 pages.

I was surprised by the portrayal of Natasha at this point in time. At the beginning she’s very bored as a wealthy socialite, which isn’t a cover but is her actual life. She tries to casually date, but finds in the story in issue #2 that she can’t get over the memory of Hawkeye and her dead husband, the Red Guardian. She craves excitement and believes that she can only get it as the Black Widow. In the story issue #1 she helps the son of her maid, who had fallen into debt to mobsters, and she notes that she’s helping a common person when she’d previously worked for governments.

At the beginning she was trying to maintain a secret identity, but this is complicated by the fact that her costume, which she designed herself, doesn’t cover her face at all. In the story in issue #2 her maid’s son recognizes her and Natasha thinks, “So much for my secret identity worries! If Carlos recognizes me… I can give that up for lost!” She doesn’t even try to convince him and her maid to keep it a secret. When she next fights villains she tells them, “My name is Madame Natasha… But you may call me… the Black Widow!” And the story in issue #3 criminals show up at Natasha’s apartment to keep her captive there and prevent her from interfering with their plot as the Black Widow.

Ivan, Natasha’s chauffeur who has known her since she was a baby, was also initially unaware that Natasha was the Black Widow. In the story in issue #1 he drives her to a dangerous area at her request and expresses concern for her safety and Natasha thinks, “Poor Ivan! If only he knew,” while going to change into her Black Widow outfit out of sight. Him having any kind of reaction to learning that Natasha is a trained super-spy isn’t depicted. It’s just accepted as a casual thing when she changes into her costume in the car in the story in issue #3. And after that point he’s involved with her work, occasionally fighting alongside her.

In the story in issue #5 a teenager that Natasha had been trying to help tackles another teenager that was about to kill her off of a building and they both fall to their deaths. Natasha seems traumatized by this, and in the story in issue #6 she purposefully misses a shot that had a 50/50 chance of knocking an escaping teenage criminal onto a rooftop where he could be interrogated or to the street below where he would also die. Natasha begins to believe that there is a curse that causes the deaths of people near her and in the story in issue #7 she’s worried about Ivan, thinking, “He saved my life- when I was an infant- and the grim spectre of war towered over our native land. If I cause him the grief- the danger I have brought others…”

The Avengers (1963) #21-24

In this batch of The Avengers issues I went from August 1965 to November 1965, according to the Marvel Wiki. All were written by Stan Lee and penciled by Don Heck. Issues #21-22 were inked by Wally Wood, issue #23 by John Romita, and issue #24 was inked by Dick Ayers.

In issue #23 Wanda is described as “the frail-looking beauty, whom many consider to be the weakest Avenger” by the narration, which surprised me because I would think Hawkeye would be considered the weakest of the current Avengers line-up.

#comics read this past week #my posts

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enbylesbianism · 4 years ago

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How ‘IRON WIDOW’ by Xiran Jay Zhao changed my reading experience

I’ll be straightforward: I’m in love with ‘Iron Widow’ since *checks notes* May, when I read it, and it’s now my life’s purpose to make everyone else as in love with it as I am.

First of all, I’d like to say that I don’t usually consume media with sci-fi aspects, action, mecha suits, that kind of thing. I was a follower of Xiran and watched their videos analysing Asian (and Asian-inspired) media, such as Mulan, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, Netflix’s Over The Moon etc. I also happen to find Xiran’s voice very soothing, so there’s that. So, when they mentioned that they were writing a book, I was interested, especially putting that it was polyamory and a historical reimagining. When I got around to requesting the publishers (thank you so much, Penguin Teen Canada!) for an ARC and reading it... well, it was just game changing.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to read a book with a love triangle that doesn’t end up with all of them in love with each other again. Of course, as a polyamory person, I’d already considered that as an option and I’d already asked (more like begged, actually) for more media with this concept, but I hadn’t actually seen it until now (I am going to need Tracy Deonn to follow in Xiran’s footsteps and make BreeSelNick endgame, by the way). I had considered it an option before, but since I’d never seen it happen, I unconsciously made myself believe that such a thing wasn’t allowed. ‘Iron Widow’ was here to tell me that it doesn’t matter if it’s allowed, because you can take it. I exist, and seeing myself represented is something I can claim as mine.

Another thing this book delivered flawlessly was unhinged women. The internet keeps talking about people written by men or by women, but I’m here for something else: people written by Xiran Jay Zhao. Wu Zetian wields her rage fearlessly, she’s shady and ruthless. Her moral compass is messy. I’ve waited for a character like her my whole life, but hadn’t known it until she’d been given to me on a silver platter. No, it’s better than that: given to me on a document sent to my e-mail, then to my Kindle, like most delightful things are.

Not only did Xiran give me Wu Zetian, though, but on my Kindle silver platter, there was also Gao Yizhi and Li Shimin, her outstanding love interests. While Li Shimin fits the tormented bad boy criteria (but better, because that’s just what Xiran does, makes good things better), Gao Yizhi would fit the rich good boy one (yes, eat-the-rich-romantically trope!). But while he is kind and nice, we’re led to believe that there is something dark in him, though maybe his morals aren’t as messy as Zetian’s. Their dynamic can probably be described as Bonnie, Clyde, and their househusband. Perfection, truly.

The plot is also marvellous, including the oppression at the core of the system, how dirty the powerful people play to get what they want, as well as realistic plot twists. Something I liked, too, was the way Xiran Jay Zhao dealt with the action in the book: I’m usually not all for action-packed books, but the way Xiran did it pulled me in. It’s intense and involves a lot of emotion, something that usually lacks action scenes (one of the reasons why I don’t like them all that much).

The way trauma is handled in ‘Iron Widow’ is spectacular, too. There are all sorts of these included, from family trauma to ones caused by alcoholism (I’d disclose more on that, but I’m not sure how spoilery that would be), and it doesn’t show only the “pretty” part of it: we get to see the anger that’s so often played in a way as to make the traumatised person feel guilty and the lashing out.

Besides, ‘Iron Widow’ has everything: hate-to-love? Yup. Friends to lovers? Absolutely! Fake dating/arranged marriage? You bet! Overthrowing the government? 100% yes! That’s basically the plot of the book. Femme fatale trope where a character seduces, then kills a man? Again, that’s basically the (initial) plot. Forbidden/secret relationship? Lots of it. Morally gray characters? Basically all of them are. Fighting while injured and not 100% healthy yet? Mhm. Intense fights with giant, magic mecha suits inspired by mythology? I got you (Xiran does, actually)! Plot twists? YES! One party of the relationship finding a way to help/save their loved one from a dangerous situation that was almost impossible to do so? Yes!!!!

If all my gushing wasn’t enough for you to pre-order this book or add it on your TBR, then... get help. But fear not! Becuase I’ll definitely post more about this book! (Maybe not here on Tumblr, but I have an account on Twitter 100% dedicated to it, so...) Because I’m obsessed with it! ‘Iron Widow’ releases in NINE DAYS, on September 21st, so make sure to check it out! Or else Wu Zetian won’t come for you! And believe me, you want her to.

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randomvarious · 2 years ago

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Today’s compilation:

Grammy Nominees 2000 2000 Pop / Latin Pop / Teen Pop / R&B

I think it's genuinely funny to look back on albums like these and to see some of the songs and names that the Recording Academy deemed worthy of nominating for some of the Grammys' most coveted categories: "Livin' la vida loca" for Record of the Year? Kid Rock for Best New Artist, even though he'd already put out three albums prior (and is also really bad)? Lou Bega for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and in the same category as Andrea Bocelli? 😂 What are we even doing here, folks? What's next, a Marvel movie getting nominated for Best Picture? 😳

Anyway, regardless of some of these choices, it's always fun to take a trip down memory lane, get a bit of that nostalgia rush, and re-evaluate some of these hits that were completely inescapable two-plus decades ago.

And I think my biggest takeaway here is that, even though I still can’t help but love most of its dopey songs, the US' Latin pop boom at the turn of the millennium was, for the most part, pretty objectively terrible. "Livin' la vida loca" is pure maximalist cringe, with its "skin's the color mocha" lyric possibly being the worst line ever written in the history of pop music. And its absurd James Bond guitar motif will also never not be funny to me. Amazing to remember that people unironically enjoyed this song at one point. Like, imagine going to a normal bar at peak hours on a Saturday night in 1999 and this song comes on, and people start going nuts for it? What a time to be alive.

And same goes for "Mambo No. 5," another incredible Latin pop inanity that also happened to mesh well with that whole swing revival thing that bands like the Brian Setzer Orchestra and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies (that fucking name, man) were somehow getting away with at the same exact time. God, what musical horrors this time period wrought. And Lou Bega's not even Latin, either, by the way. He's a German native who's of Sicilian and Ugandan descent. And still, he made one of the biggest Latin pop hits of all time. Go figure.

And then there's Santana's "Smooth," which isn't actually an *awful* song on its own—at least not to nearly the same extent as those other two—but it's managed to reach such an extreme level of saturation over the years that I think it's now achieved a meme status that's akin to "All Star." I mean, that opening bar hits and you just chuckle at the utter absurdity of this song's existence at this point, right? But I actually learned a couple interesting facts about it today. One is that the guy who produced Matchbox Twenty's debut album also produced this song, and the other is that, originally, it was given to Rob Thomas in its preliminary stages, so he could work on it and then someone else could end up singing the final product, but Santana just decided that Thomas should provide the lead vocals anyway. And Thomas actually had someone like George Michael in mind instead, so try to imagine what that would've sounded like 😯.

But I swear to you all that I'm not actually an insufferably stuffy despiser of all 90s pop; I love some of the music on here. "...Baby One More Time" and that whole Swedish-produced teen pop craze has really grown on me over the years. Producer Max Martin was a total pop production genius back then and that Britney Spears debut single was one of his finest works. It has such an excellently lush final push and the song itself legitimately changed the pop music landscape forever. But I also can't help but notice some of the similarities between it and another less remembered co-production of Martin's that he did in '97 for Robyn called "Show Me Love" (not to be confused with the all-time diva house hit, "Show Me Love" by Robin S.) .

By the way, wanna see quite possibly the wrongest anyone's ever been about anything, ever? Read the following sentence from the Wikipedia article for "...Baby One More Time." The level of lack of foresight is off the fucking charts!

Given what we know now, it's crazy to think how multiple people at the top of the industry could've missed this mark by so goddamn much, but they did. And maybe, had "...Baby One More Time" never been made, they might've actually been right. But as it turns out, they were the complete opposite of that.

Overall, this is a fun album for channeling more innocent times and enjoying some of the pure pop goofiness of 1999, but the idea that some of these songs ever got nominated for anything other than the musical equivalent of a Razzie by an “authoritative” institution is pretty funny in and of itself and it also reveals what an unserious organization the Recording Academy really became at some point. Like, I can't imagine, at any time, thinking that a song like "Livin' la vida loca" ever exuded any kind of level of excellence, but I'd also very much like to meet the people who did!

Highlights:

Backstreet Boys - "I Want It That Way" Ricky Martin - "Livn' la vida loca" Santana - "Smooth" TLC - "No Scrubs" Christina Aguilera - "Genie in a Bottle" Macy Gray - "Do Something" Kid Rock - "Bawitdaba" Britney Spears - "...Baby One More Time" Marc Anthony - "I Need to Know" Lou Bega - "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)" Sting - "Brand New Day"

#pop #latin pop #latin #latin music #teen pop #r&b #r & b #music #90s #90s music #90's #90's music

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vendettaparker · 4 years ago

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Peanut Butter and Extra Jelly [T.H]

Summary: Tom’s long time crush on you becomes painful when you and Harrison are cast as love interests in a movie.

Paring: Tom Holland x Actress!Reader

Word Count: 5.8k

Warning: Suggestive themes, fake smut (very light), jealousy, probably some typos, swearing

a/n: i have no idea how filming a movie, or auditioning for one actually goes so don’t crucify me for this. i’m pretty happy with how this turned out, especially considering that this is the most i’ve ever written for a fic. also, Burt Kreisher is one of my fav comedians in real life, he has 3 shows on neflix and a mini series.

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Tom was not a jealous person. At least, that's what he always told himself. He prided himself in thinking he was a very level headed individual who didn’t let his emotions get the best of him. That worked best for his job anyways; always being able to control his emotions and not get in his own head. That simple, pacifistic mindset seemed to change when it came to you.

You were one of the many actors Tom got the pleasure to help hone their technique and work closely with. You were new to the lifestyle of Hollywood and the only roles you had before were in small indie films that never garnered too much attention. The first major role that you landed, which also happened to help kickstart your career, was in the MCU. You played the secondary villain in the third Spider-man movie.

Meeting the cast was a dream come true; they were all extremely helpful and they provided tons of tips and tricks in navigating the hectic schedule required for such a huge production. By the time filming wrapped up, you were considered part of their little Spider-man family.

Tom was easily the most helpful. Whenever he saw you struggling with anything, he offered to help. You two spent hours upon hours together in his trailer, ordering take out and practicing lines. Some nights you two planned to work through your script, but inevitably ended up falling asleep binge watching The Office, and laughing about crazy shit that happened on set that day.

When the movie wrapped up and you went home for a month before the press tour, you were completely unsure and nervous about what direction your career was going in. You auditioned for a few new movies, but had yet to hear from any of the directors about casting decisions. You kept in touch Tom during the month you were apart and expressed your concerns.

“I don’t know, Tom. I’m just so sick of waiting around and hoping that some director out there throws me a bone, ya know’?” You said on facetime, while making cookies.

“Yeah, I totally understand that, (Y/N/N). I had that issue a couple years ago before the Marvel movies. Trust me, you did outstanding in that role and once it gets noticed I’m positive you’ll have directors calling you, begging for you to audition.” Tom smiled warmly into the camera as he walked around his apartment in London.

“Yeah, easy for you to say, movie-star.” You giggled, turning your face away from the camera in hopes that Tom wouldn’t notice the blush his compliments painted onto your cheeks

“I’m serious! You were outstanding! Like in that one scene where you—”

“Tom! Tessa chewed a hole in my trousers again!” A voice came from outside of the frame, “Mate, you gotta get her to stop doing that somehow.”

Tom sighed, and waved his hand dismissively at the figure, “Okay, sure. I’m busy right now.” Tom looked back to the camera, “anyways, as I was saying, don’t stress about not having a new project yet, (Y/N)—”

“(Y/N)?” The other voice whisper-yelled. “Let me say hi!”, suddenly the phone was yanked out of Tom's hands and the video shook around a bit as Tom wrestled to get it back. Finally, the camera stilled and Harrison was on the other end smiling. “Hi, (Y/N)!”

“Oh, hi Harrison!” You smiled back, laughing. You'd met Harrison a few times when he visited Tom on set. “How are you?”

The camera started moving around more as the background behind Harrsion whizzed past. You assumed Tom must’ve been chasing him to get the phone back.

“I’m good! I just auditioned for a new movie. You should audition too! The main female lead’s description looks just like you.” He exclaimed, running past the kitchen to his room.

“Oi! Give me my phone back you div!” You heard Tom yelling in the background, no doubt in hot pursuit of Harrison.

“I don’t know, I'm not sure I’m prepared for a lead role.” You sighed, “What’s the movie called? I’ll look into it.”

“It’s called ‘Collateral Damage’, it’s a spy movie.” Harrison said, shutting the door to his room, while Tom pounded on it from the other side. “Yeah, it’d be really fun working with you. Tom constantly talks about how much fun you are on set.” Harrison wheezed out, trying to catch his breath.

“Aw, that’s sweet of him.” You laughed. “Well I’ve got to go. Just tell Tom he can call me tomorrow or something.” You waved at the camera. “Bye!”

“Yup, bye.” Harrison said right before the video cut out.

Harrison finally opened the door to a seething Tom. Tom grabbed the phone back from Harrison and noticed that the call had ended.

“Dude! Why would you do that?” Tom whined.

Harrison just patted Tom’s back, “Sorry, mate. She said she had to go, though. I was about to give the phone back.”

Tom huffed and sulked for a moment. “Whatever, I’ll just call her later, I guess.”

Harrison nodded and smirked at how whipped Tom was. “You should just ask her out if you’re so desperate for her attention.” Harrison teased.

“Shut up. I’m not desperate for her attention, I just like her voice and her personality, and the way she talks, and her funny sayings, and how her hair looks when she just woke up.”

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It was only a few days later when you received an email from the director of the movie Harrison told you about, asking for you to audition. You were ecstatic, Harrison must’ve already sent in some things about you since the director seemed adamant that you were of high interest for the role.

You called Tom immediately to share the good news.

He picked up after the third ring, “Hello, darling! How are you?” he beamed when he answered your call. He usually was the one to call you so he felt a sense of pride knowing that you were calling him for once.

“Tom! The director of the movie Harrison auditioned for just emailed me asking for me to audition!” You squealed excitedly.

“Really? That’s wonderful, love! Harrison just got the part of the lead too, so you’d be filming with him if you got it.”

“That’s so exciting, I’m flying to London for the audition in two days. Are you still there?” You pulled the phone away from your ear and switched it to speaker. “I’m booking the flight right now.”

“Yeah, I’ll be in London for another week and a half. Then we have the press tour starting in Japan.” Tom said, also switching to speaker phone to look at his calendar. “You can stay with Harrison and I while you’re here. Since we have to go to Japan together anyways.” Tom offered nervously. He really wanted you to stay in his flat with him. It’d be all cute and domestic, and maybe, just maybe, he’d spend enough time with you to not feel nervous about asking you on a date. If he was lucky, that is, but awaiting your reply he was a jittery ball of nerves.

“Yeah, that sounds wonderful. I won't be intruding though, right?” You said, smiling from ear to ear. Thank god you weren’t on facetime and Tom couldn’t see the stupid smile adoring your features.

“No, of course not. Harry will be so excited to see you. And Tessa too, she really misses you.” Tom shuffled around with his phone, shooting a quick text to Harrison letting him know you were coming to stay for a week.

“Ok, thanks so much, this is really thoughtful of you. I absolutely can’t wait to see you!” You gushed, finalizing your purchase of a one-way ticket to London. “K, the flight is at 2:30 pm here, it’s about 9 and a half hours, but you’re also ahead of me, so I’ll be in around..5?”

“Yeah, that sounds right to me,” Tom chuckled, “I’ll come pick you up. I’ll wear my incognito disguise.”

“If you mean that stupid t-shirt you got that says ‘I’M NOT A CELEBRITY’, then maybe I’ll ask Harrison to come pick me up…”

“That’s cold (Y/L/N).”

You giggled softly, “I’m sorry, Tommy. If it makes you feel better, that shirt isn’t as bad as that stupid blue beanie that you never wear correctly.”

“How the fuck would that make me feel better? You’re killing me, (Y/N/N).”

You laughed at his over dramatic reaction, “Sorry that you’re a sensitive babe. I gotta go now, see you soon!” You hung up before Tom could respond with a sassy quip. Then immediately after you received a text:

Tommy: The second you get here I’m bout to 👊

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Tom called Harrison up after you got off the phone, he needed to make sure his best friend wouldn’t say or do anything to embarrass him in front of you.

“Tom, don’t you think this is a bit obsessive? I mean, she’s only staying with us for a week and you already know her so well from spending all that time filming with her.” Harrison sighed, sick of listening to Tom ramble about every possible embarrassing situation he could be put in, in the coming week.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. It's no big deal. But don’t mention that time I accidentally shit my pants at the club, or that time I got hit in the head with a golf ball ‘cus I got distracted by a flock of geese, or that time a got chased by a flock of geese, or—”

“Geez, mate. At this point we might as well not even talk to her.” Harrison chuckled, thinking of all the stories he could bring up about Tom around the dinner table with you. Tom really was just a walking ball of embarrassing moments.

“Stoppp ittt,” Tom whined, “when we were on set it was usually just the cast and Harry around, but you? You could do some real fucking damage to my love life, Haz.”

“What love life?” Harrison barked out, laughing.

Tom then hung up and began praying to whatever god was out there that this week could go by without a hitch, and then you and him would be on your way, together, to Japan.

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The whole week spent in London actually went really well, especially the audition. Tom and Harrison both accompanied you for moral support, well Harrison actually had to be there to be your scene partner, but it was still nice knowing he supported you.

The director shook your hand and you went through the normal formalities before beginning your scene with Harrison. It was a quick scene with a monologue in it. The main premise of the movie was all about choosing love over work, especially in dangerous, life-threatening scenarios. The scene you used to audition with Harrison was the scene where the main character, Lincoln, and his lover interest, Mallory, were arguing, trying to push each other away to keep each other safe. The scene had a lot of raw emotion that you were able to tap into, and the directors gave your performance a standing ovation once the scene concluded.

They said that they’d get back to you within the next few days, but they also mentioned how the chemistry between you and Harrison was off the charts, leaving you hopeful. Tom and Harrison both gave you hugs and pats on the back. Tom had watched the whole scene unfold and he was in complete and utter awe of your talent. Part of him was annoyed that he didn’t audition for the movie and a chance as your love interest. But Harrison deserved this big break and so did you, so he was hopeful of the outcome being something that benefitted both of his best friends.

After the audition the rest of the week went by nearly perfectly. The real kicker was when Tom’s family invited you and Harrison to join them for dinner. Tom had not anticipated his mom asking you to come to family dinner, so he wasn’t able to stop the embarrassing anecdotes his mom told on his behalf.

“Tom had the cutest little tush,” Nikki exclaimed, placing the old homemade scrapbook in your lap and flipping through a couple of pages. “See look,” she happily pointed to a picture of Tom as a toddler in a bath, surrounded by bubbles, his little bum poking through them.

Tom sat uncomfortably on the sofa next to you, cringing at the now 21 year old photo of him. He expected you to also cringe along, or worse case scenario, get up and make a flimsy excuse to leave his crazy family, but you just chuckled along with Nikki and continued making your way through the scrapbook, making little comments here and there.

“Oh, and this one,” Nikki said, pointing to a photo of Tom crying and Sam holding up a superhero action figure triumphantly, “that was Tom’s favorite toy, but when Sam saw how much Tom liked it, he made an effort to always be playing with it when Tom came into the room and he wouldn’t share.”

You giggled at the little whiny face Tom made in the picture, and turned to him, replicating it on your face, making fun of him. Tom laughed along and playfully shoved you. He adored how well you seemed to fit in with his family and his feelings for you only multiplied.

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The week in London was one of the best in your life. You didn’t realize how much you missed Tom until you got to the airport and he was there waiting for you, unfortunately in his stupid blue beanie, and no, it wasn’t on right, his big ears poked out of it horrendously.

The last day you had in London before you and Tom went to Japan, you finally received a call about the audition. The director called you to congratulate you on getting the part, and he sent you numerous emails about scheduling, where to be, and when. Harrison was elated to have a familiar face playing his love interest on screen, and Tom was over the moon excited for you, this on top of the Spider-man movie coming out, you were certainly becoming a force to be reckoned with.

You spent the night celebrating at a club, Harry and Sam also showed up to party with you. The night was still young and the club was already packed and in full swing. Tom ordered two shots for each of you to start off the night before he was whisked away by a few fans to sign autographs. When he didn’t return you took it upon yourself to have his shots, giving you an extra edge to help spice up your night.

Harrison found Tom in the corner of the club talking to some fans. But throughout his whole time taking pictures with them, he couldn’t help but glance at you every once and a while. You looked so carefree and beautiful, dancing around in your shiny silver top and leather leggings.

“Tom.” Harrison interrupted Tom’s gawking and directed his attention to the small group of fans Tom was with.

Tom nodded and finished up his pictures and autographs before wishing them all a good and safe night. Once he reached you, you engulfed him in a bone crushing hug.

“Thank you for such a great time in London, Tommy.” you slurred, already feeling the impact of the four shots you took. “I had the best time of my whole life.” You pecked his cheek and pulled him close to dance with you.

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The following month or so on the press tour was a once in a lifetime experience. You travelled to more cities than you even knew the name of and you had all of your friends by your side. More so, you had motivation to remain approachable and well liked by fans considering that you were moving up in the industry. Some interviews were mostly for Tom, Zendaya, and Jacob. Your role in the movie was big enough for you to be needed for some interviews, and most people were genuinely interested in getting to know you, but there were also a handful of press activities that you weren’t included in, which you didn’t mind.

When you didn’t have anything to do for an hour or so, you would text Harrison and send him funny memes. He was quickly becoming one of your closest friends; you had already created a surplus of inside jokes with him just over the phone.

Tom noticed how you were always laughing at your phone or rapid fire texting. Even when you were being interviewed, Tom could faintly hear the buzz of your text message notifications going off.

“Tom,” you snapped in front of his eyes, “did you need something?”

“Huh?” Tom blinked a few times, “Uh—no, sorry.” Tom’s cheeks flushed pink, embarrassed for having been caught staring at you. He couldn’t help it though, you were dressed so pretty that day. You had your hair done up in two bubble braids and you wore his pink sweatshirt over your yellow sundress.

“Okay then.” You smiled at him. You went back to your phone, reading what Harrison had just texted you. “What was the name of that comedian we watched the other night?”

“The one on Netflix?”

You hummed out a yes, tapping away at your phone.

“Burt Kreisher, why?” Tom asked, leaning over to your chair to try and catch a glimpse of who you were texting. When he saw the contact name “Hazzy”, he couldn't stop the little angry pit of jealousy that started in his stomach. Sure, you were here with him now, not with Harrison, but when you two were apart you also texted him nonstop, and the texts seemed to all be inside jokes, which was something you also shared with him that he held near and dear.

“I made a joke referencing him to Harrison and he didn’t get it. Fucking nerd.” You chuckled, texting Harrison a link to the skit you were referring to.

Tom chuckled along, but he couldn’t help but frown slightly at how bright your smile was when Harrison replied.

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The press tour and premiere of the movie seemed to go by lighting fast. You’d never been to a premiere for a production this big, and your nerves for the red carpet were starting to get to you.

You and Zendaya were stuffed into a hotel room with both of your respective teams, both trying to rapidly get both of you ready for the event.

“So when do you start filming for your next project?” Zendaya asked, she sat in front of a broadway-equse mirror, bright bulbs of light giving a luminescent glow to her already near flawless complexion. She hadn’t even finished her makeup yet and she was so pretty.

“In a month, I have to go back to London next week.” You said, sifting through the opinions you brought for dresses. You brought three options, just in case you changed your mind after seeing yourself in the dress. “Harrison and I are going to go over the scripts together and we were also told to go out in public a few times; for press and whatnot.”

“That’s exciting!” Zendaya mused, she glanced at the clock and gave her hairdresser some instructions about how much time she had to do hair. “It’s a good thing you guys are already friends. I remember when I filmed ‘The Greatest Showman’ I didn’t know many of the actors personally, so we had to go out together and do press all while being almost strangers. It was a bit nerve wracking.” Zendaya smiled at you fondly, she was like an older sister to you during this whole movie-making process, she constantly had your back.

“Yeah, I mean I’ll probably be in a situation like that at some point, but for my first lead role it’s nice to be working opposite a friend.” You smiled back, finally deciding on the red, sequined dress.

You both sat and worked through the makeup process in comfortable silence.

“So you and Tom…” Zendaya broke the silence and looked at you with a smirk on her face.

“What?” You looked at her with a dumbfounded look, before nervously laughing, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb, (Y/N/N).” She poked your arm and laughed, “He’s literally obsessed with you.”

You laughed at how ridiculous that sounded. A movie star, and very famous movie star at that, obsessed with you? You? Impossible.

“Yeah no, sorry but you got the wrong girl, babe.” You sighed, pulling out your phone to snap and selfie with her for your instagram story. You quickly snapped a pic of the two of you, her kissing your cheek, leaving a small, faint lipstick mark. “I mean it’d be nice,” you back tracked, “but I’m sure that’s just my wishful thinking.”

“What wishful thinking? I thought you were a pessimist?” Zendaya chuckled, taking her own photo with you to post later.

“I am, but I can’t help but indulge a bit.”

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Before you knew it, you were back in London, staying in a rented out flat for the next three to four months. Harrison was kind enough to come over to help you set up a work space, but he also offered you to spend most of your time at his place. Since Tom was in New York, doing interviews about the new Spider-man movie and having meetings with the Marvel Cinematic Universe team to try and gauge his future in the MCU, he wouldn’t be around for almost a month, so Harrison offered up Tom’s office when you needed to go over a scene by yourself and wanted a place that was already set up.

The days of filming seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. Most of your scenes were with Harrison, and he was the perfect scene partner. He rarely messed up, but if he did then he was quick to use it as an opportunity to improvise. His skills weren’t as well honed in like Tom’s, but it was obvious that their style ranged from a similar source.

The main thing about this movie that you were excited, but extremely nervous for, were the two sex scenes. The first one is at the beginning, where the two leads give in to each other for a night, then there's some implied stuff in between, and the last one is when the two leads part ways for the final time at the end of the movie. The first one had to be rough, fast, and needy, whereas the second one was direct to be more slow, thought out, and sensual.

Both were extremely stress-inducing to film. Harrison had also never done any scenes like this before, so he was on the same boat as you. Thankfully you had an amazing director and stunt coordinator to work with and with the help of other crew members, the scenes were mapped out so that it wasn’t too much improv or guessing on your part.

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The first intimate scene you shot actually happened to be the one at the end of the movie. That scene was more tame and dealt with more emotional subtexts than physical. Since you filmed that one first, you went into filming the next one with more confidence. It only took a few days to get the first scene down to perfection, so with this newfound confidence, it shouldn’t take too long to get the next one done.

On the days you shot intimate scenes, you only needed to wear the costume you wore before the scene and then you changed into a robe with nude underwear underneath. The bits with the outfit on before were already shot, so the director called a 30 minute break until you could begin shooting the actual sex part.

You were standing by the snack table, eyes scanning the table for any more muffins leftover from breakfast. The robe you wore made your skin prickle whenever a draft came onto set.

Just as you had found the muffin you were looking for, a pair of warm hands covered your eyes.

“Guess who!” An all too familiar warm, British accentuated, voice called.

You turned around in his arms, effectively nudging his hands from your face, and soon you were met with the warmest hazel eyes. Eyes that you missed so much this past month.

“Tommy!” You squealed and thrusted yourself into him in a hug. He immediately reciprocated it and wrapped your body in warmth. “What’re you doing here?” You asked once you let go of him.

“Harrison gave me the location so I could come watch you film. I just got home, like, two days ago.” Tom eyed you up and down, not realizing what little you had on. “Um—are you wearing anything under that?” He pointed up and down your figure.

“Nope, today and tomorrow we’re scheduled to film the sex scene.” You said casually, doing a silly twirl. Tom gulped.

“A s-sex scene?” He choked, “I didn’t know you guys had one.”

“Yup,” you smirked, “two actually, this is my first one ever, Haz’s too, I think. Well actually, we filmed the sex scene at the end of the movie last week.”

“Yeah… t-that’s cool.” Tom smiled weakly.

Right as you were about to continue your conversation with Tom, an arm swung over your shoulder and pulled you close. Harrison smiled at the both of you. He wore a similar robe to yours, except he left the front open. His plaid boxers on full display.

“Don’t listen to her, Tom. She’s a natural.” Harrison pinched your cheeks. Tom clenched his jaw at the comment. He knew Harrison hadn't meant to imply anything with it, but he couldn't help but hear the hidden meaning behind the otherwise innocent compliment.

You giggled and pushed his hand away, “Only ‘cus my scene partner is so darn cute.” You retaliated, poking and tickling his pecs.

This kind of goofy banter was normal between you and Harrison, but Tom hadn’t seen either of you in so long. He also had never seen you two interact so fluently with each other. He watched the interaction with a tight-lipped smile, nodding along and shrugging every once in a while to seem like he was paying attention. In reality though, he couldn’t pry his thoughts away from how close you were to Harrison.

“Ok everyone! Places! Let’s wrap this scene up and put it to rest today!” Your director called. You and Harrison smiled and waved goodbye to Tom. Harrison pointed to a chair in the room that had a nice view of the set where Tom could watch. Tom nodded and walked over to the chair, enthusiasm for watching you work completely dissipating.

The scene started off rough right off the bat. The second the director said ‘Action!’ you and Harrison were practically pouncing on each other. Harrison had you pressed up against the wall and you were both breathing heavily. He was leaving sloppy, wet kisses down your neck, then across your collar bones. Your moans, which Tom always imagined to sound like music to his ears, sounded too real for his liking. But no matter how much he tried to look away, his eyes were glued to the two bodies moving fluidly with one another.

“Cut! Cut!” The director yelled, effectively ending the scene. You and Harrison pulled apart and he gave you a peck on the cheek, as in saying ‘good job’. “That was good, but Harrison,” The blonde nodded, awaiting further instruction. “You gotta be a little rougher, hm?”

Harrison nodded along with the critique. “(Y/N)?” the director moved his attention to you, “would it be okay if Harrison marked you up? Just a few hickeys to really sell the illusion. We can do without, though, if you feel uncomfortable.”

Tom overheard the interaction and internally hoped that you were too uncomfortable for that, but deep down he knew you would do it. You were never the type to stray away from a challenge.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” You nodded, chest still heaving from the scene. You looked at Harrison. “Is that okay with you?”

Harrison nodded, a shy smile tugging at his lips. Yeah, you guys have been working at this scene for days now, but he’d never been rough enough to leave marks. He’d be lying if he said the thought didn’t invigorate him.

So the scene started from the top, you pressed up against the wall, all your weight shoved between the flimsy wall of the set and Harrison’s strong arms. Harrison did exactly as the director required, leaving noticeable dark spots across the top of your chest. Unlike your previous moans, which had just been for show, this new roughness in his actions tore real moans from your lips.

Tom sat uncomfortably in his chair, wishing he picked a different day to visit you on set. He shifted around, watching twin moans pull from both you and Harrison’s throat. He watched as you nipped at Harrison's ear as he faux thrusted into you. The jealousy that had pitted itself in his stomach soon turned to self-loathing. You looked really into the scene, he couldn’t help but feel like he was intruding. He knew you were a great actress, but he couldn’t believe that this was all acting. In his eyes, he believed that some part of you must wish that this was real. And part of you did like this scenario, but you wouldn’t have picked Harrison to be opposite you in this little fantasy.

Your moans and Harrisons both grew louder, leading up to the climax as scripted. Tom, not wanting to watch anymore exited the set quickly before he could watch the scene end.

You and Harrison finished up, gaining applause and praise afterwards from the director and crew members on set.

“Where’s Tom?” You asked, scrambling back into your robe and smoothing out your now roughed up hair.

Harrison, now noticing the absence of his best friend, began to feel a bit guilty. He knew Tom had a thing for you, maybe he should’ve told Tom not to visit set today.

“Um, (Y/N)?” He mumbled, pulling you aside slightly.

“Yeah?” You still looked around for Tom a bit, heart sinking when you realized that he must've left without saying goodbye.

“I shouldn’t be the one telling you this,” Harrison began, drawing your full attention, “but Tom really likes you. He always downplayed it, so I didn’t realize how much, but I think watching this scene might’ve upset him a bit.” Harrison looked towards the exit, no doubtedly where Tom left through, out into the parking lot.

“Oh—oh!” You gasped, feeling terribly for having put Tom in such an awkward position. “I didn’t know he felt the same.” You whispered, smiling softly to yourself. Guess Z was right after all. You pulled away from Harrison, “I’ll go talk to him.”

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

Tom didn’t go far. He still wanted to be there to support you; he didn’t want to come off as a jealous prick, but he couldn’t keep watching that intimacy between you and his best friend. He sat on the curb outside of the building the set was built in. A few people passed him going to their designated buildings on the lot, but he didn’t pay any mind to them, too lost in his thoughts. He needed to tell you sooner rather than later how he felt. No time to be a pussy anymore.

“Tom?” You walked up next to his sitting figure, still only in a robe, tightly wrapped around you. He looked up to acknowledge you, mumbling a soft ‘Hey.’ before looking back down, trying to collect his thoughts and courage. It’s now or never.

You sat beside him and rested your head on his shoulder. “Harrison told me something interesting in there,” You paused for a moment before continuing, “about you.”

Tom’s head shot up, and he looked at you with frantic eyes, only imagining the worse. There were too many things Harrison could’ve told you about Tom to sully your image of him.

“Whatever it was, he's a lying prick!” Tom rushed out.

You giggled, lifting your head up to look him in the eyes, his dark hazel eyes boring into yours.

“That’s a shame then,” You shrugged, “considering I like you too.”

Tom breathed out a sigh of relief, before looking back at you, doing a double take.

“Wait, what?”

“Mhm, yeah.” You said casually, standing up. “But since Harrison’s a liar then I suppose he was wrong.” You teased.

“No!” Tom grabbed your wrist and pulled you back next to him, but his aim was a bit off and you ended up in his lap. “He lies about a lot, but not about this.”

You smiled at him, “I should hope not, considering I’m crazy about you.”

Tom couldn’t help the smile that beamed across his face, but then he noticed the marks left on you by Harrison. Remembering why he was insecure in the first place, he looked away.

“What about Harrison?” He asked. You looked at him utterly confused. Tom caught on and explained further. “You looked like you were really into that scene with him.”

You giggled and pinched Tom’s cheek, turning it red. “I’m an actress, you idiot.”

Tom scoffed, “I know that. It’s just— I didn’t realize you could fake that kind of love.”

You looked at Tom’s downcast face. You leaned in and kissed his neck, just under his jaw. You nipped and sucked softly, leaving a nice, dark pink blotch that would go away in a few days under his jaw and he whimpered softly.

“I’d never fake that kind of love with you.” You grabbed his face, holding it gently in your hands. “I’d never have to.” You whispered, pulling him in for a kiss, soft and sweet.

Tom pulled you closer, resting a hand on the small of your back, kissing back fervently.

The short make-out session being cut short by the door to the set bursting opened. Harrison rushing out, now dressed in slacks and a white button up for the next scene you needed to shoot that day.

“(Y/N)! Hair and makeup need you.” You lugged yourself off of Tom’s lap, promising to talk to him after you finished for the day. You went back inside, jokingly blowing a kiss to Harrison on your way.

Harrison stayed outside and sat next to Tom.

“Did she confess first?” He asked after a moment of silence.

“Yup.” Tom smiled happily, licking his lips, tasting the strawberry chapstick he saw you put on earlier.

“You owe me 10 pounds then, you wimp.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Tom groaned, promptly pulling ten pounds out of his wallet and handing it to Haz.

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