#Astra Logue

[mutalieju]

Finished Paul Jenkins run of Hellblazer on this reread.

It's... Okay? It has some great moments for sure (Constantine shitting out his alcoholism and guilt in a public toilet to make a clone of himself was great, the issue about John being an unreliable narrator was good... in general lot of the single issue stories are good like the one where john spirals because he accidentally killed his girlfriend's pet fish and hallucinates plane crashes etc, catastrophizing about it. )

Sean Phillip's art is good, Warren Pleece's less so, not enough gross and interesting visuals, no trippy disturbing imagery for the most part. Some of the stuff a more... experimental artist could have done more with. I feel like Pleece's caricaturish art style especially really undersold some of the body horror for example with the ghost with a hole in her head etc.

Dani is underutilized and underwritten, unfortunately. Jenkins does approach the racist aspects of british national identity in an earlier issue with the black woman who is not welcome in the fantasyland of british folklore but then it just doesn't come up with Dani at all until they visit her family in the US.

Underutilizing Dani is one of jenkins's main sins in this run tbh...

Just in general Jenkins has the tendency to play it safe so it doesn't take any big swings. Like lot of the time when white writers have talked about racism in Hellblazer it has been Bad but at least it was trying, even if it fell on its face. Jenkins on the other hand loves to play with concepts like royal bloodlines having mythical properties without stopping to consider the implications, all the while having supposedly sympathetic characters throwing slightly racist jokes around.

The same thing with female characters too. Apart from its nasty treatment of Ellie (which is bad!) the misogyny tends to be more subtle and come in the form of sidelining female characters, especially when it revisits older storylines.

It's still certainly better than most new 52 stuff John has been involved in. I liked how Jenkins wrote John's relationships with kids and how his guilt over Astra influences them. I really liked him becoming a godfather and being horrified by the responsibility.

I liked some arcs. I think Critical Mass is still my favourite of his.

It's nice to tie up the Astra stuff for sure and I enjoy the tone of the arc where it's hopeless most of the time including at the end despite handing out John a massive victory and bringing the Newcastle thing to a close.

As far as the supporting cast goes I enjoyed the guy who was addicted to personalities and summoning famous dead people to get possessed by them and also the epileptic grandma.

The run ends pretty weakly with a literal deus ex machina and while I think it works well especially as a setup for the next writer to take over it's not really earned.

[jesncin]

Astra Logue and the Other Constantine

Sketch dump where I'm trying out different stuff.

[forbeswho]

Legends on Twitter

[denkryn]

The Fungus Amongus - 6x15

[acernusaurus]

Put a Legend behind the wheel and this is what you'll get.

Change my mind.

[nerdybitch]

I love,,,the dichotomy between the two most pivotal people in Johns whole life, both missing their arms Astra missing her right Thomas missing his left I wonder why thats a theme, its just something I noticed 🤔

[caribbean-ace]

i miss Legends Of Tomorrow and the bunch of weirdos who screwed up and fixed the timeline with their bisexual captain

[thehangerson]

astra logue arrowverse lore

astra logue comic lore

[crincher]

they’re a *1* pet name kind of couple

Bonus:

[talas-first-lady]

Big questions only

[lovevalley45]

so far no one has voted for the deleted grilling scene on my ‘most iconic spooner moments’ poll and that makes me believe it isn’t as common knowledge as i presume it is. why does it look like they’re abt to have a grilling date here in the galley. the one time i’ve shipped esperastra fjfjjd (if you can’t tell, it’s from “bored on board onboard”)

[jesncin]

Any chance of getting you to elaborate on Goldie and Astra’s relationship?

Adult Goldie and Astra have a "complete strangers bonded by a traumatic event" friendship going on. Having been failed by every adult guardian in her young life, Astra is raised to believe she's disposable and a means to someone else's ends. So to have a stranger risk and sacrifice so much of himself for her is something she struggles to comprehend. It's a kindness she can't fathom.

Adult Goldie always keeps his feelings close to his chest, whether it be the grief he feels for his twin or how traumatizing losing a part of his body was. Goldie makes sure Astra never sees him suffering from bouts of phantom pain, she doesn't need that extra guilt- she's been through enough as it is. He doesn't let a lot of people close, but he's pretty fond of Astra.

Astra is taken in by Cheryl. In her heart, she considers Goldie her godfather.

[forbeswho]

[thevampiremarie]

Treehouse chapter 33 preview:

Johanna wipes her nose on the edge of her sleeve, and then rubs away the tear tracking down her cheek. “And she was just a girl when she died. When I- I killed her. Just as Dream should’ve safeguarded his corrupting sand from Rachel, kept it from ever hurting her, I should’ve protected Astra. I thought, in my hubris, that it was an easy thing to fight a demon. Summon another demon, they cancel each other out, I win. Astra survives.”

“But it didn’t work out like that.”

Johanna shakes her head and you just… shatter. A sob builds in the back of your throat. You hold it down as this is not your grief, not your place to mourn.

“It didn’t. And she lost- Astra lost her soul. Do you understand? Her soul. My demon, that I brought into this plane, dragged her soul to Hell. I have to live with that for the rest of my days, knowing there’s a little girl being tortured from here ‘till eternity because of my mistakes. You think there’s blood on my hands? Dream of the Endless is absolutely covered in it.”

You could not be more bereft if you had been the one to birth Astra, to raise her, love her, and braid her hair everyday before school. And to know what happened to this little girl you never even met, to know that she’s in pain that will never end and no one can save her from it, no one is there to comfort Astra and tell her it will be alright…

Will it be your baby that pays the price next? You’re an adult. You know the risks of being here and with Morpheus. You consented. But bringing an unborn child into this-

Is that something you can live with on your conscience?

“Mortals and immortal things should never mix. It’s our lives they play with, and we alone suffer the consequences.” Johanna turns away from you for privacy to compose herself.

[acernusaurus]

Legends' Gifts For The Avalance Baby's First Birthday

I was thinking about this for fic reasons but it quickly evolved into its own thing. Let me know if you've got any other ideas.

Ray and Nora

They would give a useful invention and/or magical charm. I'm thinking something that would make parents' lives easier without being an untested, potentially dangerous device around an infant/toddler.

Kendra and/or Carter

Separate or together (I'm not really a fan of the comics direction) I think they would get the most normal gifts as the people who have been parents many times.

Mick

Crème brûlée torch. 'It's for food' is his only explanation when anyone questions it.

Jax

Custom made plastic throwing stars

(Curse AI for being evil and forcing me to Photoshop my own dang nonsense)

Nate and Zari

A set of funny/cute shirts. Stuff like: 'Future ninja', 'My favorite uncle is a Historian', gamer stuff, etc. And maybe something from the ancestors that they say every baby should have.

Behrad

I feel like he would write the baby a song as his gift. And when it ends up on his first album in his own time the kid can't tell anyone about it being hers.

Gary

I think he'd stick with simple: stuffed octopus. Or go way too wild and try to buy everything.

Wally

A trinket from his travels.

Zari

Mithra Merch. Zari doesn't even need to bring it from the future. She happens to know a certain influencer's passwords and promo codes and puts the baby on the list for a very large Dragon Girl fan package.

Charlie

Bass guitar. 100% stolen from someone famous.

Mona

A ton of kids books

Astra

Astra would waffle over what babies want for their birthday and then finally just settle on giving her money.

Spooner

Mushroom plush. It was supposed to be a joke but it becomes the kids main lovey because kids are delightfully unpredictable.

(I didn't expect to have a picture for this one but I stumbled across this while shopping and it was perfect)

Gwyn

Haunted doll (not intentionally). Zari lends Gwyn $50, which already freaks him out (inflation calculator says it's ~$900). And when he tries to go to the mall he walks into the Macy's (a name he recognizes) but enters through the underwear-section door and he instantly turns back around to walk out. Eventually he finds an antique store with this perfectly acceptable children's gift and she is 100% haunted but the ghost is chill.

(I cruised through the doll aisle at a thrift store to find one I liked for this)

Gideon

Gideon has only known one baby personally so I think she'd go with some hot 22nd century or historic toy that was Jonas' favorite as a baby. Or she'd pick the toy with the best reviews at the exact time of the birthday.

[vampirehizzies]

i should've known i was going to be a villain defender because when i was eight i swore by the descendants movie series and vehemently defended/loved the VKs