#Black Cullins

[tani-b-art]

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[reasoningdaily]

WATCH: Police Fatally Shoot Black Man On Ground, Cops Accused Of Editing Footage

"Nygil Cullins’ family has waited two years for the Atlanta Police Department to release the body camera footage of his fatal shooting inside a Buckhead restaurant. That wait ended this week as police distributed a video that showed Cullins’ final moments as he grappled with police and a security guard. He was carrying a gun, the footage showed."

[ray4hotchner]

Fate's Gentle Nudge

Chapter 1: Cupcakes and Conversations

Next chapter >>

❀ 𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘: aaron hotchner x reader

❀ 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪: Aaron's encounter with Jack's new teacher, sparks an unexpected connection that leaves him intrigued and curious about what the future may hold.

❀ 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 2.8k

❀ 𝕒𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣’𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖: Hey, loves. This one will be a multi-chapter story, featuring lots of fluff and pining. Let's see how the story unfolds. Let me know what you think. Comment if you want to be tagged in the next part🤍 (finished)

❀ 𝕞𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕒𝕔𝕔: @iyv-ray24

┌─❀*̥˚──❀*̥˚─┐

On Ao3

└──❀*̥˚──❀*̥˚┘

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Aaron stood in front of the mirror, meticulously tying his necktie. It was a Tuesday evening, and he had come home early because he had promised his son that he would attend Parent's Night at his school. A couple of weeks ago, Jack had mentioned during dinner that they now had a new class teacher. His previous teacher had gone on maternity leave due to pregnancy, causing the school to face challenges in finding a suitable replacement. As a result, Jack's class had to deal with a series of substitute teachers.

Jack would enthusiastically share school stories with Aaron every night before bed. He appeared much happier now that he had a permanent class teacher. He would gush over Miss Y/L/N and genuinely seemed to like her. This made Aaron even more curious to meet her in person.

He left his room and joined Jess, Jack's aunt, and Jack in the kitchen as they cleaned up after dinner.

"Okay, guys, I'm off. Have fun, but don't stay up too late, Jack," he told them.

"Bye, Dad, and tell Ms. Y/L/N I miss her."

Hotch chuckled and ruffled his son's hair. "You saw her today, buddy."

"I know, and?" Jack asked, not understanding what his dad meant. Could he not miss her even if he had seen her today?

"I'll tell her, buddy," he chuckled again, then left them to make his way to Jack's school.

Upon entering the school corridors, he could already hear the murmur of other parents chatting somewhere in the distance. As he walked into the classroom, he immediately spotted many familiar faces. His attention was drawn to the name tags on the tables, each adorned with distinct decorations and the names of different children. He took a seat where Jack's name tag was laid on the table. On Jack's name tag, there was a drawing of Spiderman alongside something resembling Aaron's FBI badge. A smile formed on his lips as he looked at it. Soon, a few people approached him to strike up conversations — parents he had met before at soccer training and playdates with the kids.

He heard a laughter echoing through the corridor and turned his gaze towards the door, where someone entered carrying a large tray of cupcakes. The person placed the tray on a table beside empty cups and a coffee machine. Accompanying her was another woman who assisted in carrying some cookies. Aaron's eyes settled on the unfamiliar woman – this must be Miss Y/L/N. She wore a brown plaid dress paired with a long-sleeved black shirt underneath, a perfect choice for the breezy late summer-early autumn evening outside.

He didn't want to appear creepy, but he found it difficult to divert his gaze from her. She had an infectious smile and a pleasant laugh that he wished to hear again. Although he couldn't comprehend their conversation, he observed her attentiveness and nods as she conversed with the other woman. A few minutes later, the other women and the rest of the parents also took their seats.

Ms. Y/L/N stood at the front of the class and began introducing herself.

"Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Y/N Y/L/N, and I'll be the class teacher for the remainder of the year. The past couple of weeks have been challenging for the students with all the changes in substitute teachers and Mrs. Cullin's leaving. However, I believe that we'll soon settle into a nice routine," she introduced herself, offering a warm smile.

"I've been teaching the kids for almost 10 days now, and I'm sure you've all been curious about their new teacher. So, I thought a gathering like this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce myself," she continued.

Aaron found it hard to divert his gaze, and he felt his heart rate quicken each time their eyes met while she scanned the room, addressing every parent. She described some enjoyable activities she had done with the kids during the initial days to help them feel more comfortable with her. She mentioned that the name tags had been designed by the children themselves, and they had all collectively written a letter to Mrs. Cullin, congratulating her on her new baby.

She went on to explain her upcoming plans for the class and mentioned a field trip scheduled in a couple months.

"That's probably enough talking from me," she joked, "but before I wrap up, I'll be passing around a list where you can provide your contact numbers, emails, or the best way to reach you in case of an emergency. Additionally, we'd appreciate a second emergency contact as well. Please help yourselves to some coffee and the baked goods," she concluded, pointing towards the table with cupcakes.

As the parents hurried to get coffee, the list circulated around the room. Aaron duly filled out the list, designating Jess as an emergency contact. Wanting to ensure thorough communication options, he also included his email and Penelope's BAU number, as a backup in case he was unreachable due to work.

Passing the list to the next person, he finally stood up from the remarkably uncomfortable small children's chair and decided to fetch some coffee. With a few individuals waiting their turn at the machine, he opted to take a quick look around instead. The classroom, as usual, was nicely decorated, but Aaron detected some changes from the last time he had seen it at the beginning of the school year.

The windowsills of the classroom were adorned with an array of plants, featuring larger pots as well as numerous small, colorful pots housing countless succulents. Aaron moved closer to examine them and noticed that each pot was uniquely decorated and labeled with names. It struck him that each child probably had their own designated pot. He scanned the collection, attempting to locate the one belonging to Jack.

"Care for one?" a voice chimed beside him. Turning, he found a smiling Ms. Y/L/N holding a cupcake and a coffee, her gaze fixed on Aaron.

"Oh, sure, thank you," Aaron replied, accepting the cupcake and coffee she offered.

"Do you like them?" she inquired, referring to the succulents. "We painted the pots and planted them with the kids. Would you like to see Jack's?" she asked, and he merely nodded, unsure if he could manage to form coherent words with her radiant smile directed at him.

They moved a few windowsills down, positioning themselves farther back in the classroom. She picked up a small pot that was painted in red and blue, adorned with black spiderwebs. It was clear that Jack had opted for a Spiderman-inspired design, a choice that resonated with his current fascination for the comic character.

"This looks really good; he did a great job painting it," Aaron commented, studying the pot. "Do you mind if I take a picture of it?"

"No, of course not. Go ahead," she responded enthusiastically. Aaron set his coffee down on a nearby table and quickly snapped a picture. He figured Penelope would definitely want to see it if he ended up telling her about this encounter later.

"I think the kids definitely loved doing this activity," he remarked, observing the pot before gently returning it to its original spot.

"They did," she replied, amusement in her voice. "Though I didn't anticipate just how messy it would get beforehand," she chuckled. "But it was worth it. Now all of them have a plant they need to take care of. I believe it teaches them responsibility and gives them a chance to learn about taking care of a living thing, don't you think?"

He was genuinely impressed by her reasoning and found himself agreeing. "That sounds like a really harmless and easy way to teach them these things. I definitely agree," he said, offering her a smile in return.

He took a bite of the cupcake and let out a satisfied hum, relishing the sweetness that his craving had demanded after a day filled with paperwork and irksome meetings.

"This tastes amazing," he commented, moving in for a second bite.

"Thank you," Ms. Y/L/N responded with a chuckle.

"Huh? You baked them?" he inquired, genuinely surprised.

"Yes, I did. I'm glad you're enjoying them," she confirmed, her smile evident in her response.

For a brief moment, he was so captivated by her beauty that he couldn't manage a response, his gaze locked onto her. Thankfully, a parent's call pulled her away before the situation grew uncomfortable.

"It was nice talking to you, Mr. Hotchner," she said before walking over to the parent who had beckoned her.

Thirty minutes later, parents started saying their goodbyes one by one. Aaron purposely hung back, an unfamiliar urge guiding him. Normally, he wouldn't enjoy such gatherings and would quickly leave. On top of that, he was tired from a long day and too little sleep. Needing to deliver Jack's message gave him an excuse to stay a bit longer. It definitely wasn't a wish to talk to her again, absolutely not.

As the last parent exited the classroom, Aaron made his way over to Ms. Y/L/N, who was in the process of collecting empty cups. Gently taking some of them from her hands, he offered, "Let me help you with that."

"Oh, Mr. Hotchner, you really don't have to," she replied.

"No, I insist," he said, smiling at her. He was almost certain he noticed a faint blush grace her cheeks. Together, they gathered the remaining trash from the tables.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Hotchner. That was really nice of you. Now I see where Jack gets his kindness," she remarked.

"Don't mention it," he replied with a smile.

Glancing over at the coffee table, she noticed a couple of uneaten cookies and two cupcakes.

"Then accept his cupcake as a thank you," she suggested, handing him one while keeping the other for herself.

He was struck by the mix of emotions he was feeling – the warmth of attraction and the charm of cuteness all rolled into one.

She settled onto her teacher's desk, and Aaron perched on the table in front of her, both enjoying their cupcakes. The conversation flowed into discussions about the class and Jack's progress.

"Jack is a really bright kid," she began. "He loves reading and drawing, and he has quite a few friends. Ms. Collins provided me with background on each student before she left, and she mentioned that Jack and Paul had some issues last year. But I don't see any remnants of that now. They're actually really good friends these days."

"I'm glad to hear that," Aaron responded.

"And, I hope I'm not overstepping, but she also shared some information about Jack's mom."

"Ah, I understand."

"I'm truly sorry for your loss. But I want you to know, Mr. Hotchner, that I take precautions to ensure my students are content and don't feel upset in this classroom."

He was genuinely curious. "How do you manage that?"

"For instance, I don't celebrate Mother's or Father's Day in my classroom. Many teachers have their students create cards or paint pictures, but that can be distressing for children who've lost a parent. We have another little girl in the class who lost her father a few years ago, and I wouldn't want any of them to feel upset. Instead, once a year, we celebrate a made-up day where the kids choose someone to craft a card and a present for. It could be a parent, a friend, a grandparent, or even a pet. One child even wrote a letter to their cat once," she shared, giggling.

There was a certain charm in the way she spoke about her approach, a blend of understanding and creativity that struck Aaron.

Aaron found himself captivated by her explanation, admiring the thoughtfulness she put into her teaching approach.

"That's a really thoughtful way to handle it," he said, genuinely impressed. "It must make a big difference for those kids."

"I believe it does," she replied with a warm smile. "Every child's experience is unique, and it's important to create an environment where they all feel included."

"You have a great way of looking at things," he remarked, unable to hide his admiration.

"Thank you, Mr. Hotchner. It's just something I've learned over the years."

Their easy conversation continued, moving from topic to topic. As they chatted, she suddenly smiled and said, "You know, Jack mentioned that you work for the FBI."

Aaron chuckled, slightly surprised by Jack's chatter. "He talks a lot, doesn't he?"

"He's quite enthusiastic about sharing," she replied with a grin. "So, you're in the FBI? That must be fascinating work."

He nodded, a hint of pride in his expression. "It has its moments. I'm in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. We try to understand and predict criminal behavior based on psychological profiles. It can be challenging, but it's also incredibly rewarding."

Their conversation flowed effortlessly, and Aaron found himself enjoying her company more than he had expected.

They continued talking and laughing, Aaron realizing he hadn't laughed this much in a long time. Time seemed to fly by as they shared stories and exchanged jokes, thoroughly enjoying each other's company.

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted when the janitor poked his head into the room and said, "Miss, I need to lock the doors soon."

Startled, she hopped off the desk. "Of course, of course, sorry. We'll be out of here in a minute."

They exchanged a brief, regretful glance before both standing up, the lighthearted atmosphere not quite dissipating even as their conversation came to an end.

Before they walked towards the school's exit, she carefully packed the remaining cookies into a ziplock bag. Carrying her bag, they made their way out of the classroom and towards the school door.

"Sorry for taking up so much of your time, Mr. Hotchner. I didn't realize how late it had gotten," she said apologetically.

"Don't apologize. I had a really enjoyable evening," he assured her with a warm smile.

She suddenly extends her hand and he eagerly takes it into his own. The touch of her warm, soft hand sent a tingle up his arm and down his back, a subtle yet undeniable sign of the connection that had formed between them.

"Again, it was really nice meeting you, Mr. Hotchner, and thank you for your help," she said, shaking his hand.

"The pleasure was mine," he replied, his voice sincere.

As they stood there, she held out the ziplock bag of cookies. He almost protested, but she insisted, telling him to give them to Jack. She playfully noted, "I couldn't help but notice that you have a sweet tooth, just like Jack."

He chuckled, a light flush of embarrassment touching his cheeks. "You're observant," he admitted.

She laughed gently, her eyes dancing. "Well, it's a trait that comes in handy as a teacher."

He nodded, his smile lingering. "Thank you again. I'll make sure Jack gets these."

"Oh, and before you go," he continued, "Jack wanted me to pass along a message."

She raised an eyebrow, curious.

"He said he misses you," Aaron revealed.

Her chuckle was warm and genuine. "Well, I miss him too. Could you do me a favor and wish him a good night from me?"

"Absolutely," Aaron agreed.

With that, they exchanged a final nod and a parting smile, each carrying a small memory of a delightful evening spent together.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

As Aaron arrived home, he discovered Jess and Jack asleep on the couch, a movie playing in the background. He knelt down and gently caressed Jack's cheek.

"You're back. We must've fallen asleep," Jess said, her voice soft as she stirred.

"I'll carry him to bed," Aaron replied, his tone equally gentle. He effortlessly lifted Jack into his arms and carries him to his room.

As Aaron settled Jack into bed, the boy stirred slightly.

"Dad?" Jack's voice came out in a sleepy murmur.

"Yes, buddy?"

"Did you meet her?" Jack inquired, still half-asleep.

"I did. She seems like a great teacher. She told me to wish you a good night."

"She did?" Jack's voice held a small smile, his eyes closed.

"Yes, she did. But now go back to sleep, okay? Goodnight, Jack," Aaron said, planting a gentle kiss on his head.

"Night, Dad," came the soft response, the day coming to a peaceful end as father and son exchanged their goodnights.

After Jess left and Jack was back in bed, Aaron began to move around the house, switching off lights and ensuring windows and doors were securely closed. In the kitchen, his eyes fell upon the bag of cookies he had set on the counter earlier. Pouring himself a glass of milk, he retrieved a cookie and settled into contemplation.

As he nibbled on the cookie, his thoughts lingered on the evening spent with her. The warmth of their conversation, the genuine laughter they shared, and the way he felt around her — all these thoughts danced through his mind. Despite his attempts to remain composed, he couldn't completely ignore the fluttering sensation in his stomach, evidence of the impact she had on him.

[tinas1469]

Marvel Settles Fight Over Spider-Man, Doctor Strange Rights

The estate of Steve Ditko, who co-created the characters, has reached a deal with the company and ended the last of five battles over copyright termination efforts.

BY ASHLEY CULLINS

It looks like Marvel won’t be bringing its battle over the rights to Spider-Man and Doctor Strange into the new year. Attorneys for the company and the estate of Steve Ditko on Wednesday notified the court that they’ve reached an amicable settlement and expect a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice to be filed in the coming weeks.

This all started back in 2021, when Marvel filed a series of lawsuits in response to copyright termination notices from Larry Lieber and the estates of Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Don Heck and Don Rico. A very long list of characters were at issue, including Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk and Thor. In June, all but one of the matters settled.

The last remaining dispute was with the heirs of Ditko, who co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. According to that termination notice, the estate wanted to reclaim rights from comics including Amazing Fantasy (including Spider-Man’s 1962 debut) and Strange Tales (including Doctor Strange’s first appearance in 1963). In addition to the art and stories themselves, the termination notices also targeted “any character, story element, or indicia reasonably associated with the Works.”

Marvel was represented by Dan Petrocelli and Molly Lens of O’Melveny, and Patrick Ditko was represented by Marc Toberoff. Neither party has responded to a request for comment.

[canmom]

Comics Comints 3: Animal Man

Previously on Comics Comments: [The Incal] [Solo Levelling]. (Yeah this name is kind of terrible isn’t it? Part of me is like ‘for god’s sake change it’ and part of me is like ‘commit to the bit’.)

I think you could say I tend to like three different sources of comic. One is webcomics. The second is manga (and also manhwa). The third? Comics written by a wizard in the 1980s.

You see, most of the real ‘classic’ comics from this period are by some sort of wizard. Alan Moore? Famously a magician and really looks the part. Grant Morrison? Chaos magician. Alejandro Jodorowsky? Read the last first post in this series lmao.

It’s not actually all that surprising since comics are an incredibly densely symbolic medium which give you a pretty direct line of attack on the collective unconscious, if you believe in that. Being a wizard is probably pretty good training for writing interesting comics. Or maybe Alan Moore’s success just kicked off a fad of trying to find more British wizards to move comics off the shells at DC - pretty much Morrison’s own account of their introduction into the world of comics.

And that brings us to...

Animal Man

(1988-95, written by Grant Morrison, pencilled Chas Truog, Tom Grummett and Paris Cullins, inked Doug Hazlewood, Mark McKenna, Steve Montano and Mark Farmer, coloured Tatjana Wood and Helen Vesik, lettered by John Costanza and Janice Chiang, covers illustrated by Brian Bolland... phew...)

So. Animal Man! Basically the story as Morrison tells it in the intro to the collected edition is...

In 1987, at the height of the critical acclaim for Alan Moore’s work on SWAMP THING and WATCHMEN, DC Comics dispatched a band of troubleshooters on what is quaintly termed a “headhunting mission” to the United Kingdom. The brief was to turn up the stones and see if there weren’t any more cranky Brit authors who might be able to work wonders with some of hte dusty old characters languishing in DC’s back catalogue. As one of those who received the call that year, I had no idea who I might dig up and revamp. On the Glasgow to London train, however, my feverishly overstressed brain at last lighted upon Animal Man. This minor character from the pages of STRANGE ADVENTURES in the ‘60s had always, for heaven only knows what murky reasons, fascinated me and, as the train chugged through a picturesque language of Tudor houses and smiling bobbies on bicycles, I began to put together a scenario involving an out-of-work, married-with-children third-rate superhero who becomes involved with animal rights issues and finds his true vocation in life.

You can read the full introduction here. It’s pretty funny.

In fact, Morrison is leaving out a little of the story. The ‘headhunting mission’ took place after Alan Moore decisively cut ties with DC over issues related to royalties (particularly for merchandising) and a proposed age-rating system. He stopped writing for them after finishing the last few issues of V for Vendetta, and DC went looking for someone new to fill his niche of ‘left-wing British guy, good at prose, wizard’. Along with Morrison, they found...

Jamie Delano, who was approached by DC as the writer of the Swamp Thing spin off Hellblazer; Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, who collaborated on the Black Orchid limited series, as well as the famous and acclaimed Sandman; Peter Milligan, who launched a new Shade, the Changing Man series; and Scottish creator Grant Morrison, whose pitch of an Animal Man series was approved. Later British creators to work on American comics include Mark Millar, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis and Paul Jenkins.

This also comes in a time when American comics are getting more and more literary aspirations: complex characterisation, more naturalistic dialogue, less emphasis on superheroes. Which can perhaps also be attributed to Alan Moore. The ‘British invasion’ might be compared with the rise of gekiga in Japan in the 60s and 70s, although here the change was happening not in alternative magazines like Garo but the most mainstream comics. Putting in a pin in that, because I need to learn more about this period.

I came to Animal Man knowing really only one thing: that it gets increasingly metafictional, culminating in an arc where the protagonist goes and meets Grant Morrison themself. This does indeed happen and it’s cool! But before that a bunch of other stuff has to happen to set up the thematic significance of this metafiction...

What follows: a lot of art and story breakdown.

Morrison is a very interesting figure who I’d like to learn a lot more about. I thought of them as another example of the ‘spend years making sequential art instead of transitioning’ archetype, but it seems maybe a little more complicated than that - I think I need to do more research before I try and say anything definitive about the many noticeable ways trans girls figure in the imagination of comics from this period, and it doesn’t factor much in Animal Man compared to say Doom Patrol.

Indeed, main character Buddy is an almost parodically Normal Dad, a blonde white man living in an American suburban house with a white picket fence and... well, 2 children, not 2.5, but you know.

Into this world comes all sorts of weird stuff because it’s a Grant Morrison comic, and a lot of the humour in the earlier parts of the comic comes from the idea of shining a look at the fringes of the DC universe away from the central superhero battles, with a local low-tier superhero making TV appearances and becoming a minor celebrity. I think ‘everyday life in a world where superheroes are real’ has been done a lot since then, but it’s done well here. Being a superhero for Buddy starts out as just a day job; obscure superhero teams from Morrison’s encyclopedic knowledge of DC comics history are made into obscure superhero teams in-universe as well.

I don’t read American comics nearly as often as I read manga and webcomics - working on filling in the gaps there - so it’s hard for me to comment on Truog’s art in contrast to other comics. Which means what strikes me is probably more traits of ‘American Comics’ than this one specifically, but what ho...

The immediate thing I noticed is the immense anatomical precision, particularly when it comes to drawing muscles - something I’d also been struggling with at the time I read it so I was paying attention lol. Peter Chung made an interesting remark in an interview which I’ll quote here...

I think a lot of illustrators realize—and you see this a lot in American comics as well—that if you draw costumes realistically, it's very difficult. You end up spending all your time trying to create believable drapery. So the tendency is to draw skin-tight costumes that mold around the body. This allows you to use the body more. You see this with classical sculpture, and dancers. You try to use the expressive qualities of the human body more—that's why sculptors prefer to work with nudes, as opposed to trying to make the clothing look accurate. Otherwise you end up concentrating on the clothing and not the person. 

Fairly early on, Animal Man’s outfit is updated to include a leather jacket, and there’s a solid sense of how to handle the cloth. Here’s an action scene from fairly early on with Buddy fighting against a rat monster created by the tragic villain B’wana Beast (more on him in a bit)...

You can see how the cloth stretches at the elbow and bunches up on the inside fold. This also shows a few other aspects of the art: the shading is completely carried by hatching in the linework, with the colours being flat, either pastel or highly saturated. I think this is in part a limitation of the printing technologies of the time. There’s occasional use of screentone, as you can see on the top right panel there (which downscaling has turned into a moiré pattern...)

In comparison to manga, beyond the general differences in character design, it’s interesting to see what’s different in how action scenes are conveyed. The panelling is generally very regular and rectangular, but there will occasionally be layouts with figures overlapping the border. Some of the ways of conveying motion, like dynamic unbalanced poses, or replacing lines with perpendicular hatching, is also widely used in manga; some aren’t, such as the motion arcs you can see in the page above. There usually isn’t a lot of exaggeration or extreme perspective distortion.

I think the colouring weakens it. The colours mostly serve to separate out different volumes, but they don’t really convey much in their own right. Out of curiosity, I tried putting the page above through desaturate and threshold filters to see what it would look like uncoloured. Here’s a threshold, which is what the inked page would look like...

and here’s a desaturate, which replaces the colours with pure value:

So you can see having some values to separate different elements helps, but honestly I think I prefer it desaturated lol. Still, it’s much better than the overly rendered hyper-contrast style that became popular a decade later.

The other big thing that’s different from what I’m used to in manga is the large amount of narration accompanying panels, typically but not always first-person. This is apparently something Alan Moore is responsible for establishing with V for Vendetta. I think the potential drawback with this approach is that your eyes may go straight for the text boxes, and skip the drawings entirely.

There are absolutely good sequences though, such as when Buddy and his friend the physicist

Despite these small complaints, the art generally works very well. Where it gets interesting is later in the comic when things start to get very meta, so you get a character’s deterioriation represented by using unfinished art (sketches or uninked drawings), and later messing with the formal elements like panel borders. There’s a sequence where a highly advanced Buddy fights an evil version of Superman from another timeline during a massive reality breakdown provoked by a character who is aware of all the discarded storylines and timelines in the DC universe and wants to save them, and thus you get pages like this:

Animal Man’s villains are rarely ever especially villainous, and the tone of a lot of the earlier stories is Buddy finding out about the situation and trying to prevent a tragic outcome and usually failing. Morrison used the comic to some degree to soapbox for animal rights, with early arcs dealing with animal experimentation labs and sadistic dolphin hunters. At one point he even pops by the UK to help out some hunt sabs. But it’s more using this as a source for stories than something purely didactic, and leans into conflicts like Buddy’s ambivalence when his ecoterrorist allies kill a firefighter during an attack on an animal lab as part of a broader arc of his life going to shit; he is, superhero or not, just one man who gets swept up in larger events most of the time.

Speaking of larger events, Morrison’s run on Animal Man coincided with one of DC’s periodic massive crossover events called uhh (*looks up*) Invasion!. Basically a bunch of aliens show up, so Buddy’s helping fight them; then off-screen a ‘gene bomb’ goes off which scrambles Buddy’s powers. (This also played into Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol, which I’m still reading at the moment, so more on that in the future!) The storylines associated with this event - one about an alien artist who wants to terraform the Earth, the other about a washed-up suicidal supervillain - are both good, and ‘aliens show up’ is really not far outside the usual sort of things that happen in Animal Man, but it’s funny that Grant Morrison, at the time ‘just’ an up-and-coming new writer at DC comics, is now probably the only reason that this whole event is still remembered in 2022.

Anyway, let’s get into the metafiction stuff. The story is full of DC deep cuts, and Morrison seems to be very interested in how fictional characters are constructed, how they relate to their readers, how their stories are affected by the outside world...

The first movement in this direction is the story about Wile E. Coyote, which sees him rebel against God for creating a life of ceaseless violence for cartoon animals - only to be punished by incarnating him as a werewolf in the real world. Over the course of that story, Wile E. Crafty is run over, shot, crushed, and blown up, becoming a kind of Jesus-like figure whose suffering is supposed to save the animals. It’s a wonderfully batshit idea, and it works well in context - apparently this comic sold like mad so Morrison was encouraged to take it further. Animal Man’s role in this story - as in quite a lot of stories - is to witness Crafty’s death.

Thus over the course of Animal Man, we encounter a pair of aliens who find that the general trends in comic writing of the day - the emphasis on more complex characterisation for example - is increasingly straining the fabric of fictional reality...

The aliens stage an intervention to try and use Buddy’s memories to repair the timeline (or something??), but this ends up unleashing more chaos down the line, as more and more characters start attaining a fourth-wall breaking awareness. The next arc sets up some unexplained weirdness: a strange ghostly figure of Buddy attempts to communicate with his family, while meanwhile we’re introduced to the character of Highwater, a Native physicist who’s drawn into the mystery of an Arkham Asylum patient who seems to (for our outside eyes) have fourth-wall breaking knowledge.

So after the incident with the aliens, Buddy meets up with Highwater, and they go into the desert and have a peyote trip which leads to some fun imagery, hero gets power up. Meanwhile, government/corporate goons kill Buddy’s family. He gets back, and we find out the cause of the ghostly Buddy: distraught, he tries to time travel back to save them, but when his means of time travel doesn’t make that possible. The guy from Arkham Asylum meanwhile summons a bunch of DC characters from various discarded storylines and alternate universes; the aliens intervene, and Highwater ends up sealing it all off again, in the process becoming a mute Arkham inmate.

Buddy demands answers from the aliens, but they peace out; nevertheless he finds a strange door which takes him to a metafictional plane where he can - much like good old Crafty! - go and demand explanation from his creator. He soon finds discarded fictional characters in a realm where nothing can form stories, and is given a dying monkey with a typewriter that’s writing the comics script, and instructed to carry the monkey to the mythical city of ‘Formation’. (So I guess it’s still kind of animal related!)

But like all the other people Buddy couldn’t save, the monkey dies, and his journey takes him back to the start. After all this he finally gets to meet Grant Morrison!

The final issue has Morrison talking to both Buddy and the reader - giving acknowledgements, telling the story of their childhood imaginary friend Foxy, and explaining the craft of comics-making to Buddy and musing on the differences between comics life and real life.

Which is a fun little dialogue, because while it is drawing our attention to the constructed and arbitrary nature of everything in the story, it also at the same time has to function as a story. Buddy’s reactions - panicked incomprehension, questioning - have to continue to feel natural. Even though the comic is turning to us and saying ‘this man is fake’, it does its level best to cue us to think he’s real.

I like metafiction, but after you’ve handled the ‘character discovers they’re fictional’ scene, you need to figure out what it’s actually for. In this case, it’s part of the comic’s general theme of powerlessness and futility. Here’s the key page:

...which literally leads to a panel where Morrison turns to the camera and tells you to join PETA, something that hasn’t aged especially well. Morrison agonises a bit over why we use real death and suffering as entertainment - why they’d think about using their own cat’s death as material for this story - and then leaves, resurrecting Buddy’s family on the final panel.

So! Long summary over (thanks for bearing with me, I wanted to get it all straight in my head).

At this point, ‘fictional characters discover they are fictional’ is a pretty heavily done narrative, so you have to have some kind of very strong reason to use the device. I think that was way less true in the 80s - Italo Calvino’s novel If on a winters night a traveler was only published ‘79 after all!

In this case, its use is to provide a little reflective monologue on 1. living in a cruel and nihilistic world, in contrast to fictional characters who have a creator they can confront 2. Morrison’s position as an outside writer being pulled into the vast machine of the DC universe. Their intervention is... an interesting kind of critical, seeking to update rather than simply write out dubious past storylines, so the story acts as a kind of critical commentary on its predecessors. This is most apparent in one storyline which sees the old character B’wana Beast, a Tarzan-like figure who gets animal powers from a special helmet and is known as the ‘White God’, passing on his powers to a Black anti-apartheid activist. A lot of others simply deal with nostalgia, getting older, the world moving on and becoming more complicated.

Morrison describes their final storyline as an anticlimax. Which like... on the one hand, how could it possibly be? Buddy has uncovered the truth that no character in the setting can know. But on the other hand, by heavily emphasising everything is arbitrary, it does indeed dismantle the tension; there is no way it could be anything other than a final storyline.

Buddy spends much of his narrative under Morrison being unable to do more than stand by as terrible things happen around him. He tries extremely hard to be caring and empathetic, and this is often appreciated but rarely enough to save anyone. In the end he ‘realises’ that ‘he’ has even less power than that - he’s just an instrument of Morrison and whichever next writer (who would apparently choose to turn it into a story about quantum mechanical weirdness, but I stopped at the end of Morrison’s run) so not only are his efforts futile, even his motivation is also not under his control. All pretty solid as far as ‘pseudo-existential’ stories (in Buddy’s words) go.

And yet, as Morrison notes in their conversation, ‘Buddy’ will likely outlive Morrison themselves. To elaborate on that, we can see the figure of ‘Buddy’ conjured in our minds by the prompt of this book lasting as long as it continues to be printed, read, and iterated on - a meme, egregore, etc. etc.. This is the very hollow form of ‘life’ given to dead people who pass into memory, but it isn’t nothing; to create a character who’s not forgotten is quite an achievement.

Morrison’s theme of limited, even disabled characters for whom things never seem to go quite right is the whole impetus of Doom Patrol, so I guess I’ll pick up this thread when I finish digesting that one. Even so early in their career, they’re a very witty writer with a real knack for coming up with compelling, thematic scenarios and convincing characterisation. (Morrison had been writing comics in the UK for 5-6 years before that, so it’s hardly like this is the first time they wrote for a comic, but they were still younger than me at the point they began Animal Man.)

All in all, Animal Man is a compelling story that still holds up very well in 2022. If you want to read it, ComicExtra has the most complete collection of scans I found - scroll down to the 30th anniversary deluxe edition, which is annoyingly uploaded in reverse order.

Next up we’ll be doing a manga! I recently caught up with the absolutely delightful Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirohama, and I can’t wait to dig into all the brilliant techniques she’s using in the art of this manga. See you then.

[guaraninkafein]

 Black Cullins' by markdean

[leavemealone12345678910]

Chapter 1:The new knight

Kalin hid behind the barrel he was a 16 year old tiefling he was keeping quiet as the villagers and town gurads searched for him "Where's that demon" One of them would yell, the tiefling race was seen as less then human even man seen as a abomination to the holy one monsters ment to be exterminated from the face of the earth the only ways they could survive was to be a slave to a prist and he didn't want to a old man toy to do what he wanted with again.

The Tiefling would wait till it's safe he would pull up his hood hiding his face his horns wouldn't be a problem sense he had his horn cut off ageast his will. Lumine the next in line to the joseline family fortune and the title of duchess she would walk up to the head Collin of the offlokin family "Ah Lumine Good to see you I hope the ride to my beautiful port city was well" she would say looking at him "Well outside of towns folk seemingly trying to find a tiefling it was well" she would say the Lord would nod "Yes we have reports of the same abomination appearing we assure you we're attempting to take care of it" he would say sitting down as the Lord would look at her "Yes but we have more pressing matters Lord Collin on terms of you assisting me take back my rightfully my" she would say looking at him "Oh my dear why would you a young beautiful woman want it go to war to a title that youw don't even need my son has been looking for a wife" he would say ceasing her face his hand getting smacked way "No I won't marry your son" the lord would get angry she dared refuse him he would smile "Then how about a deal a duel of sorts" he would say with a smile.

Kalin sat on top of a roof eating a apple a bag resting next to him he would watch as the humans went though their day as a Black cat sat next to him "So kid you got any food for me" it would ask the teen would open the bag pulling out a fish "You really like to act like a cat dispite being a ghost Nolan" he would say the cat would eat the fish keeping silent "Hey kid you know how you wanted to be a knight" Nolan would ask the tiefling would nod "Why are you bringing it up now" he would ask taking a bite from his apple "Well I got new lady Lumine Ardacos is searching for men to fight for her" they would say "And anyone who'll fight for her gets the title of knight temporary" they would say Kalin eyes would widen smiling as he looked at the cat but would go back when he heard temporary "Probably not then" he would say the Cat would look at him "Please if you do well enough with you're magic" the cat would say smiling "I may get a permanent title of knight" he would say smiling as the cat nodded "Yes but they'll won't let you in looking like that" they would say Kalin would nod knowing he won't get to "I have a idea someone when I was still alive owe me one still I could get them to forge you a suit of armor to both keep your identity hidden and allow you to join" they would say Kalin would smile"Do it please" he would ask the cat would nod jumping from the roof heading towards the blacksmith Kalin would smile as he noticed a horse sitting in a alley dropping down he would look at the horse slowly approaching it he would see their alone either being wild but the saddle on their back says their owns dead soon they would bond the teifing getting a horse after a few hours the cat would be back with armour they must of had the blacksmith take it there.

Lumine sat in a chair one of the her body gurads keeping her and Lord cullin separated Cullin had 6 of his top knights at the ready she only had one but she hired 5 mercenaries one of the four had Kalin in their the mercs had the temporary title of knight. One knight of each side would come onto the field the frist to surrender or to falls round 1 went to Lumine round 2 Lumine round 3 4 and 5 to Cullin the the second to last to second merc came onto the field with the knight soon the two would two fight... round 6 Cullin if they lose this last round Lumine would have to marry someone she never met Kalin would walk onto the field he has the armor but no sword or shield "Let the duel commonest" the two would fight Kalin used his magic to boost his power so he won't get knocked out the Kalin would go and fight he only had his fist but with a shot to the jaw, stomach, and a kick to the legs bringing the knight down two knights would come out "Wait this is a one on one duel you sent two out" Lumine said looking at him "It's simple he's clearly stronger I mean he did take down a knight with simply his fist" he would say Lumine would nod as the fight start Kalin would fight kicking a knight unconscious he would punch the other knight unconscious aswell with the fact their wearing metal helmets with the combination of his metal boots and the attack and strength boosting magic it was fairly easy Lord cullin would look annoyed he was going to lose whispering to his assistant he to bring the best out. "We will need to pause the duel fo now ladies and gentlemen we're having some... problems" he would say walking away without saying anything Lumine would look at lone knight he had no sword or shield nothing he took down 3 of the top knights of city Lumine would walk up to the knight as he bowed to her in the armor he was nearly 6'4 dispite being 5'10 "What do you need your highness" he would say knowing how to react to and act around nobles "Tell me what is you're name mercenary" she would ask looking at him "Kalin of no family name" he would say looking at her the lady his voice being rather deep he would use his magic to make it sound like he was older then 16 and to sound more human due to tieflings have a more ethereal sound to their voice "So you are a commoner" she would say as Kalin nodded "I'm hear to make you an offer if you win the last duel you will become my knight" she would say her silver hair flowing though the wind the knight eyes would widen "I accept this offer your highness" he would say soon walking away the gurad would look at the unknown knight known as Kalin "I would of thought he would remove his helmet" he would say "I do say that is strange qastion the locals see if they know anything about him" she would order

[insomniac-morpheus]

 Black Cullins' by markdean

[arlenschumer]

This SATURDAY, MARCH 4 at 1:00pm at POE PARK VISITOR CENTER in The Bronx, New York: THE ORIGIN OF JACK KIRBY'S BLACK PANTHER free live VisuaLecture by comic book historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art)! In conjunction with the current art exhibit curated by Bronx Heroes' Ray Felix, BLACK: PANTHER LIGHTNING POWER—displaying works by Kirby, Trevor Von Eeden, Paris Cullins, Larry Stroman, and Felix—Schumer provides details and insight into Kirby’s origin and background for the Panther, and how he developed over the decades, developments that were (or weren’t) translated into the 2018 Black Panther film, as well as its ’22 sequel, Wakanda Forever. Combining comic book images with those from the film, as well as the broader pop culture, Schumer’s VisuaLecture will make you look at The Black Panther—both his comic book and cinematic creations—as if for the first time! POE PARK VISITOR CENTER 2640 Grand Concourse The Bronx, NY nycgovparks.org/parks/poe-park #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #blackpantherparty #blackpanthermovie #blackpantherwakandaforever #blackpantherart #blackpanthermarvel #jackkirbyart #marvelcomicsgroup #marvelcomicsuniverse #arlenschumer @dgareps @nyadventureclub @the_richardsyrettshow https://www.instagram.com/p/CpK7ieWrKDA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mercysought]

❝ i can’t tell if this was a warning or a welcome. ❞ // vaas for V

@badtrigger . black sails s3 . accepting

   "Honestly this reeks of some people's interpretation of a warm welcome."

The sight was fucked up. That was the best way that V. could really put it. If she was to really look she was sure she could tell body parts about and where they should have been, maybe she could even understand where the bodies might have been dumped. Anyway, a scav's usual haunt was always a fuckin' shocker regardless of how often you heard about their fucked up little gigs. The smell was the worst as well and she already knew that her clothes would get all fucked up.

She had worn darker colours knowin' that'd be the case and open sleeves - y'know she wasn't in the business of gettin' her sleeves shredded because of the mantis.

   "Then again for some people a fist to the face can be more intimidate than a warm hug. Who'm I to judge?" she grins, her hands sinking into the pockets of her pants. She wouldn't need to worry if Vaas got the wrong idea, he gave her the vibes that a punch could easily be a movement of affection as much as a warning. So not too unlike the scene in front of 'em.

Lookin' down to the floor she could see the neon lights reflecting the dark liquid and while standin' on the elevator she could only imagine the stickiness. V. wasn't squeamish - she had enough of this sort of thing enough but she usually didn't stick long enough to see the blood pool on the floor much less have it congeal at the corners. But they were scavs, what else was new.

   "Right," V. finally says, taking a step into the welcome, she didn't remember which fixer had sent them off but she really needed to start cullin' her gigs when she even started hearing the word scav. Unless they upped the price, this sort of shit wasn't cute "I really didn't want to get my shoes bloody."

[hogbu]

001 (120) par Mitch Cullin Via Flickr : Yucatán Peninsula 2016

[cumarunaegii]

i’m so so tired

[unfvmilivr]

Rolls-Royce Cullinan Black Badge

[earthstory]

The Cuillin Mountains

Myths tell the story of how the Cuillin Mountains on the Island of Skye were formed when the Sun flung its spear into the ground. A huge blister appeared and began to swell where the spear had struck the earth. Eventually the blister burst and discharged glowing molten material forming the Black Cuillin. This glowing molten material is the black and ragged gabbro, the type of igneous rock that composes the steep Black Cuillin. The bursting blister concealed the smoother, much lower-lying, snow-covered Red Cuillin, which consists of much lighter colored granite.

Interestingly, this myth correctly describes how a volcanic dome would burst and spew out hot magma. The Cuillin are indeed the remnants of an ancient volcano, eroded by rain and wind. They formed 50-70 million years ago when the Atlantic Ocean widened and the area experienced extreme volcanic upheaval. In this process a chain of volcanoes formed along the west side of the Scottish Highlands. The lava (basalt) welled up from fissures in the earth’s crust and rapidly cooled. Eventually the basalt was injected with dark gabbro, a type of rock which has larger crystals and cools slower because of the surrounding basalt. This is how the rugged Black Cuillin were formed. The gabbro and molten basalt also came into contact with the lower lying crust. The intense heat caused the lower crust to melt and the lava was injected with red/pinkish granite,creating the Red Cuillin.

Sometimes, geological history and creation myths do not differ that much.

-OW-

Image: Copyright Arpingstone. The main ridge of the Black Guilin.

Further reading: Major, Adrienne. 2004. Geomythology. Encyclopedia of Geology. http://bit.ly/1LHAF5O

[mitch-cullin]

© Mitch Cullin

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[rusticpumpkin-blog]

My sister says this fandoms dead is it really?

I hope not twilight was my favorite.