#Crisis of Infinite Beasts

[cephalog0d]

I keep accidentally referring to Beast World as Beast Wars (a thing I know exactly nothing about besides the title and it's something to do with Transformers?) and odds are good that's going to continue forever at this point so that's just where we are. Sorry in advance.

[laadeplata]

SPOILERS WARNING

I'm pissed on what they did in Crisis on infinite Earths part 3!

I refuse to believe the titans are dead!

Even more knowing they own an object that allowes them to travel between worlds.

What the twins say in Spanish:

Más: We are going to win.

Menos: You will see.

---------------------------------------------------

I changed my Tumblr username:

"la A de P" → "la A de Plata"

Why? Because although I wanted to write a shorter name, it wasn't understandable enough. It looks more complete now.

⚠ Later I have to fix all the broken links caused by the change of the name.

Versiones en español latino:

DeviantArt | Instagram

[trinijanjan]

Coming in July '24...

Happy viewing!

[splooosh]

“trapped”

John Byrne

[dctrlover1969]

[newx-menfan]

You’d think writers would have learned by now that critiquing fans via villains….doesn’t REALLY create the best of stories 😬

(Bonus Meme)

[lunar-system]

Edward Teach: The Star.

Adapted from the traditional Ride-Waite-Smith tarot, this version of the Star shows Ed kneeling down serenely by the spring of life, bare to the world, ready to heal after tumultuous events.

Stede as the Sun to follow, Izzy as the Moon can be found here.

Longer exploration of the card's symbolism under the cut.

***

The Star: Hope, openness, especially after a crisis. Renewal, healing, restoration.

Rachel Pollack writes: "This is the calm after a great change, whether it comes after a drastic planetary shift or a personal upheaval. There are still difficult times ahead, but the Star tells us to trust."

In the card Ed is depicted with a short, growing beard. Multiple personal upheavals and great changes have already happened, and he is settling into a new reality. Who is he when he is stripped from titles, uniforms and roles? In the space of the Star, he has enough trust to try and find out.

Pollack continues: "In Star, we find our inner strength and belief. The Star teaches us to accept whatever it is, to drop all our shields, to believe. The water poured out signifies healing, emotional and physical."

Ed as the Star is learning to shine his own light after witnessing Stede shine as the Sun. Trust and belief don't come easy, but as the Star he can be vulnerable enough to try again. The water flows from an infinite source, letting the emotions come and go.

Even though the Star opens up towards a bright future, Ed carries his history with him. His tattoos, pictures from other tarot cards, tell about his past:

Chest: Three of Swords, the infamous card of heartbreak. "Trust no one."

Left side thigh: the face of the Devil from the Devil card. One of the largest tattoos he has, projecting his self-image. "I'm the devil."

Right side thigh: Lobster from the Moon card, a beast that lurks under the surface, in the unconscious. "I'm the Kraken."

Right side: wolf from the Moon card. In my depiction of the Moon, Izzy stands for the wolf. Here the loyal wolf is cast to the side, left howling after the broken heart.

Belly: Ram from the throne of the Emperor, a symbol of masculine power. The placement on the lower belly suggest a trans reading of the character.

Chest, around the heart: birds from Ace of Cups, suggesting new beginnings even for a broken heart.

With his past carved to his skin, Ed is kneeling at the edge of land. One of his feet is planted firmly on the ground while the other graces the water. In Tarot, earth is often connected to the material, such as the body, and the conscious mind. Water is the element of emotions and the subconscious. At the edge of the water, Ed is in balance, grounded both in his body and in his emotions, the conscious and the subconscious. The water he pours rejuvenates them both.

TL;DR: After great personal upheavals, Ed as the Star is ready to heal and trust. He carries his past with him, but is ready to shine his own light and have faith in himself and for the future. He is vulnerable and at peace, and he is connected both to the ground and the water, nourishing them both with the water he pours.

***

Sources

Image source: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, republished as Tarot of A. E. Waite, 2016, AGM-Urania, Germany

Text source: Rachel Pollack, A Journey of 78 Steps, 2011, as cited in the booklet for instruction and guidance of Tarot of A. E. Waite, 2016, AGM-Urania, Germany

[askingtherapybill]

Meet The Residents Of Ward 333!

Devoidity

Reason For Stay: Seasonal Deviation, Self Admitted, Low Security Risk.

Therapist: Morphious

Treatment: Medication Regimen, Detox, Light Therapy.

Eternalor

Reason For Stay: Alchemyholism, Self Admitted, Medium Security Risk.

Therapist: Scrap

Treatment: Rehabilitation, Solo Therapy, Community Service.

Bill Cipher

Reason For Stay: Invoked the name of the Axolotl, Referred, Max Security Risk.

Therapist: The Axolotl

Treatment: Rehabilitation, Solo And Group Therapy, Art Therapy, And EMDR Therapy, Community Service.

The Logicube

Reason For Stay: Delayed Cuberty, Referred, Low Security Risk.

Therapist: Morphious

Treatment: Medication Regimen, Solo And Cubical Therapy.

Jessica

Reason For Stay: Infinite Life Crisis, Self Admitted, Medium Security Risk.

Therapist: Scrap

Treatment: Medication Regimen, Group Therapy, Life Guidance Classes.

Spheremonger

Reason For Stay: Dimensional Deficit Disorder, Referred, Low Security Risk.

Therapist: Morphious

Treatment: Rehabilitation, Solo Therapy, Interdimensional Education Classes.

Giant Ear

Reason For Stay: Just Needed A Little Help :), Self Admitted, Medium Security Risk

Therapist: Scrap

Treatment: Group Therapy, Meditation And Yoga, One On One Journaling. 

Insantin

Reason For Stay: HERE ON PAROLE, High Security Risk.

Therapist: The Axolotl

Treatment: Rehabilitation, Solo And Group Therapy, Unwinding Classes, Community Service.

The Beast

Reason For Stay: Unknown, Max Security Risk.

Therapist:  The Axolotl

Treatment: Rehabilitation, Solo And Group Therapy, Community Service. 

[call-me-oracle]

dickbabs post-rebirth reading list

*note - not all of these issues feature dickbabs together, some are just laments about the current situation of their relationship or them working as a team!

current ongoings

nightwing (2016-): issue #3, #10, #15, #44-47, #50-51, #54, #57-58, #68, #72-75, #77-; annual #1, annual #2, annual 2021, annual 2022, annual 2024

detective comics (2016-): issue #1047-1051, #1053-1058

batman (2016-): issue #99, #127-129, #136-138, #145-146, #148

batman: the brave and the bold (2023-): issue #4, #13

titans (2023-): issue #1-2, #6-7

catwoman (2018-): issue #45

former ongoings

batgirl (2016-2020): issue #7, #9, #14-17, #25, #27-28, #39, #44, #50

batgirls (2021-2022): issue #2-3, #7-8, #19, #12

batman: urban legends (2021-2023): issue #2, #6, #9, #22-23

the flash (2016-2023): issue #787

superman: son of kal-el (2021-2022): issue #10

limited series

dc vs vampires (2021-2022): issue #2-8, #10, #12

dark crisis on infinite earths (2022): issue #3

titans: beast world: issue #1-6

the boy wonder (2024): issue #1

event tie-ins

dc vs vampires: hunters: issue #1

titans: beast world tour - gotham: issue #1

knight terrors: nightwing: issue #1-2

anthology issues

dark nights: death metal - the last stories of the dc universe: issue #1

dc's how to lose a guy gardner in 10 days: issue #1

[solarzilla]

Guess it hasn't been shared here but the covers of the unpublished Collision Course which was suppose to be idw's last title but it was already too late. What I found most interesting is that Starscreams shown on the two covers are his Regeneration One self as that universe was cutt off from the rest of multiverse. There's also how multiversal travel would've been harder to do now as a result of the Shroud in the Fun Publication stories. Apparently there couldn't be any Bayverse stuff as Milne said they needed Paramount's permission which sounds unfair and the fact that a lot lore involving the Multiversal Thirteen was rooted in there. Apparently other stuff couldn't be used as I see no Unicron Trilogy stuff besides Armada Megatron and no 2001 RID. I guess Gobots are also included even though they are canonically Transformers in their realities

The Grimlock vs BW Megatron cover could've tied back to the idw beast wars comic as the Dinobots had gone missing over there and Megatron was next to a protoform x that was seemingly Grimlock. Optimus is in some kind of "Energon Universe" in both one of the covers and a page by Tom Scioli along with Megatron from the 2014-2016 tf vs Gi joe comic returning from Dream Valley from mlp

Least Milne described it as the tf equivalent to Infinite Crisis though at the time of the tf multiverse, there isn't really an equivalent to the anti-monitor besides Unicron but Unicron hasn't a multiversal singular being in almost a decade so not his death was causing the death of the multiverse like with the Black Hole in Cybertron. Most multiversal threats had already been dealt with by Vector Prime and something like the Hytherion only eats dying worlds so their decay doesn't spread to others

[zahri-melitor]

Look, one of the fundamental things I keep an eye on for DC writers these days is "is this person plotting a story arc that has sufficient escape valves in case of cancellation".

Because, realistically, even if you've been handed a headline title and an ongoing run, any writer should be tying off their story every 12 months and immediately before every major company-wide event. They shouldn't need to yank that cord, but you can always tell the difference between someone who has figured out how to exit their arc in advance and has just had to compress the story, and someone who's been caught on the hop (for active examples of this, go read literally any comic leading in to either Infinite Crisis or Flashpoint, as everyone got shuffled on their titles after both. You can see when teams were informed they were about to lose their books and when books were needed for the event in terms of how the stories all suddenly pivot to Getting Stuff Done ASAP).

There is also the evil cousin, 'run extended beyond expected plotting and ideas' which can show up but obviously is a rarer beast to spot.

[strayheartless]

Saw something on Twitter that asked what the point of Genesis was; whether people liked his character or tolerated him. They suggested that he was badly used as an interesting character and I just want to throw my two Gil in here.

To me Genesis is perfectly used in Crisis core but you have to understand what his role is in mythology/alagorical sense to truely appreciate him. I am not trying to be pretentious when I say that I’m genuinely meaning it.

Genesis isn’t just the Loveless obsessed mini boss. There is actual depth to his character. However, his characterisation confuses a lot of people because it’s different from others.

Genesis at the core of his characterisation (and goddess knows it would inflate his ego if his character had been made that self aware.) acts as one of the fates. He is prophet, death bringer and actualiser. He recites the prophesy [Loveless] and brings about the events of FFvii.

Loveless cannot be read as anything other than a prophesy. It just can’t. You just need to listen to all of the lines that are vocalised to know that:

“When the war of the beast brings about worlds end, the goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar she guides us to bliss her gift everlasting.”

Arguably this stanza references the war in Wuti and the creation of Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth. “Wings of dark and light” references quite literally their own singular mutations that spring forth as a black wing (Genesis) and a white wing (Angeal and Sephiroth). It then goes on to highlight their ascension into their life stream. This is simply the prologue.

The mistake everyone makes is assuming that the poem is simply talking about the three firsts. It’s not. It is dually talking about the trinity and Seph, cloud and Zack.

“Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We seek it thus and take to the sky. Ripples from on the waters surface the wandering soul knows no rest.”

This part of Act one refers to both Sephiroth and Cloud. Sephiroth is the one in CC who is wandering lost without a home nor a family. His friends have deserted him, and he is alone. By FFvii this is Cloud. He quite literally cannot catch a brake.

The “ripples from the waters surface” surface is the reflection of the two stories. It is the distortion of Sephiroths identity as the hero he has been trained to be into the monster he becomes. It is also the distortion of clouds own identity as his mind is broken and takes on someone else’s identity.

“Three friends go to battle, one is captured, one flies away, the one that is left becomes a hero”

Captured =Angeal and Zack

flies away = Genesis and Sephiroth

Becomes a hero = Sephiroth and Cloud

Angeal is captured more or less in modeoheim and dies. While Zack is quite literally is captured by Hojo with Cloud and dies as a result of that captivity. Arguably Zack was never free.

Genesis was the one who flew away from Sinra and from Nibleheim. He fled before he can behold the consequences of his actions. He his arguably the lynch pin for every major development in crisis core. Had he not challenged Sephiroth; had he not gotten hurt and been unable to heal then nothing that transpired would have happened. Had Genesis not revolted; had he not taunted Sephiroth the plot would never have come to the conclusion it did.

Sephiroth is also the one who flies away in therms of the main FFvii plot because he disappears after Nibleheim, he is the antagonist in a very similar way to Gen in CC. He appears every now and then to fuck up Clouds day and had he not been hurt by Cloud non of what happens in FFvii would transpire because it is that moment that puts Cloud at the forefront of Sephs mind. It is that moment that interests Hojo enough to experiment on Cloud and connect him to Sephiroth via the J-cells.

And then there is the hero left behind. Simply put, Genesis and Angeal leave Sephiroth to become the hero. They make villains of themselves and Leave Shinras golden boy behind to clean up their mess. And when sephiroth dies Shinra immortalises him by reporting that he died a hero. We know this because Aeirth literally states it in FFvii when cloud asked her if she knows who he is and she answers that he was a war hero that died five years previous.

Cloud by comparison is the one left by ALL of them to become a hero. Zack is dead, Sephiroth is now the villain, Genesis and Angeal own deaths impact so much of Clouds own story that they doubly place a burden of expectation upon him. Cloud literally carried all of their dreams and Honour around with him as he uses the Buster sword.

But I digress. Without analysing the entire play (at least the parts we have) you can see from what I have looked at above that Loveless isn’t just some poem; It’s a prophesy.

And Genesis being the one to speak this Prophesy is significant because he is quite literally the lynch pin for all of it. Like I said, had he not been hurt then events would have progressed differently.

I’m not saying he is the most important character of the story. He’s absolutely not; that is Cloud. But he’s not unimportant, nor is he just there. He is one of the most interesting plot devices FFvii has in my opinion.

Because he is quite literally the mouth piece of Minerva. He is a fate of the gods. He is past present and future, and he serves as the narrator at the beginning of the Shakespeare play to profess “two houses both alike in dignity.”

Genesis isn’t nothing. He is a walking Oman of death and destiny.

((Please remember this is my opinion and if you disagree I’d love to know but blessed don’t be rude. I like discussing but I really hate being yelled at.))

[branwendaughterofllyr]

Hello, I’m a fan of A Poison Tree! Your Aegon, Alyssa, and other OCs are really lovable. What I love the most is that you don’t blindly glorify the Targaryens but shed light on the people under the dragons.

So I became curious, who is your favorite non-Targaryen female character? If you had the chance, which woman would you want to put at the center instead of the Targaryens? I’m really curious about your thoughts on the non-Targaryen women.

Oh goodness, I am so glad you like them! I love writing OCs, there's so much freedom to be had with them!

And I have a love-hate relationship with the Targaryens, haha. I would never call myself a Targ stan, but I do admit that they are a very intersting bunch, especially in regards to their complcated relationships with each other and the world at large. And I think they are infinitely more fun when youy take them as flawed characters like any other, and ignore the propaganda of divinity as propaganda, lol.

I’ll assume for the purpose of this asks, that my favorite female non-Targaryen character is for the F&B/HoTD era (for ASOIAF, it’s Sansa, hands down, followed closely by Arya/Cersei/Catelyn/Brienne. Honorable mention to Melisandre). I have a soft spot for Johanna Westerling doing her own thing in the Westerlands for basically the entire Dance. And actually, Jeyne Arryn is such a girlboss for dodging marriage her entire life, having a live-in girlfriend AND concocting her own succession crisis. Love that for her.

And it’s so funny that you’ve sent me this ask, because I’ve been working on a series of one shots centered around the women of the Dance. The one that’s the furthest along is the Alys Rivers one, but I have a Helaena and Mysaria one both started. The Mysaria one has been particularly fun, as I’ve chosen to lean more into book canon and include Mushroom who could have known Mysaria personally (they were both in many of the same locations at the same time)

Her grandmother gave her a beautiful name. Mysaria. It means “grace,” a good name for a dancer. She is glad for it, for her mother would have named her Timpa, which only means “white,” in High Valyrian. An unimaginative woman, her mother. The Andals twist up her name, in their unelegant tongue. Lady Misery. Simple people, with simple minds and simple thoughts. She came out white haired and red eyed, like a rat that should be drowned in a bucket in the street. When the midwife wipes away the stickiness of birth, the women look at her. “At least she is not dark,” said her grandmother. “What is wrong with her?” asked her mother. Her grandmother looked her up and down, as her mother sighed. “I suppose Timpa will have to do.” “No,” Grandmother said. “It will not do at all.”

For the Alys Rivers one, I've chosen to make her the unacknowledged bastard of Lyonel Strong by a servant woman, making her the older half-sister to Harwin and Larys (and to Jeyne and Joyeuse, my take on the unnamed sisters.) I'll include a snippet of my progress, so you can see I am actually working on things!

Here is a truth: her mother is no witch. She is only an herbwife with a way with beasts, but there is no magic there. Only a gentle hand, and a stillness. Mother can hold so still and so quiet, it is as if she is not even there. “Mine own mother knew the old ways of the woods,” Betta would sigh every so often. “She did not teach them to me. I am too much of my father.” Alys’ grandmother could curse with black iron and black salt, could curdle the milk of cows as it squirted into the milkmaid’s pails, could make a man’s prick fail to rise, according to the taunts of the other children. Bastard, witch spawn. Alys learned to throw her fists fast and early, to break noses, and bite down on hands that pinched.

The Dance era actually has a lot of female side characters that are ripe for expansion! I think there's a real dearth of Sara Snow fics, actually, when shes got great potential if you decide to take her as real (lol). She's going to be a major figure in my North fic, the body forgotten, possibly even as a PoV character.

There are a lot of "canon OCs," characters that are mentioned and named, but no further details are given about, that you can basically run away with as far as you want. The Four Storms, Jessamyn Redfort, etc etc etc.

(I’ve got two asks about the Maris fic in my inbox, so I’ll answer those seperately lol and expand on my Four Storms thoughts there)

I have a tentative list for my Ladies of the Dance series, but at the moment I want to get the first three one shots done before I start anymore. I have a bad habit of having waaaaay too many WiPs at one time.

[popculturebuffet]

Superhero Wedding Special III: The Wedding of Wally West and Linda Park

Happy belated valentine's day all you happy people! And it's time once again for my favorite tradition on this blog: the superhero wedding special.

For those just joining us I love a good wedding "episode", wether it be a good tv wedding like Adventure Time or Community, a good wedding movie like Father of the Bride or a good old fashiond superhero wedding. And since there are both so many comic book weddings and so many I haven't covered, for the past three years i've let my patreons each pick one, picked one myself, then put all four in a poll for you fine folks to choose from. First year was a tie between Rogue and Gambit's stolen wedding and Aunt Man and Doc Ock's near marriage that ended in a nuclear explosion off the coast of Canada, and last year Hulking and Wiccan had a quick wedding via mid crossover flashback among friends, then had another celebration for the whole superhero community post crossover.

Both races were tight: one was a tie and last years eeked out a win against the Batman/Catwoman wedding fiasco. So this year was a bit diffrent. Not only did I use Tumblr's minty fresh new poll system.. but the results.. weren't even remotely close.

Yeah Wally and Linda won HALF of the 18 votes for this poll, beating out Emma's choice of Lex Luthor's Space wedding, Kev's roulette wheel choice of the recent Emma Frost Tony Stark Wedding, and Brotoman.exe's runner up Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. All good choices.. but it's clear what the people wanted. Ya'll REALLY love Wally West on here, love him even more with Linda and I wholeheartedly agree. While I didn't see this landslide coming, I'm pleased as punch it happened.

So before we introduce our couple, as is tradition let's track how we got to these nuptials.

Wally was in a weird place when he met Linda, both in and out of universe. In universe.. he'd been turned into a porcupine man somehow and was being hunted by Captain Cold during his stint as a bounty hunter.

Point is he met Linda as a newswoman. Out of universe Wally had a bit of a creative rough patch in the 80's. Wally started the 80's in one of the most influental and important books of the decade and one of it's best, The New Teen Titans. And he was easily.. the weakest member of the team.

See while his teamates were either fresh new characters Wolfman and Perez refined as they went (Starfire, Raven, Cyborg) or ones who had long since needed a new coat of paint and got a second act out of the deal (Dick Grayson, Donna Troy and Beast Boy), Wally.. was the odd man out. The team tried to make him the token conservative and a reluctant hero: one who knows he has a duty but is just.. tired of it and wants to retire. NOthing wrong with that, it can be a good angle. The problem is Wally spends the book either whining about not wanting to be a hero instead of just being honest with his friends, who have plenty of power without him, or declaring raven evil out of hand. And he does have a leg to stand on in not liking her, she made him love her. But instead of focusing on that he just assumes any time she looses control slightly she's evil now and stops carring about her because of something that, unlike the brainwashing thing, was entirely out oc her control. You can read more about all this here in this mammoth I did on the series.

The takeaway is that Wally sucked. Then Crisis on Infinite Earths Happened and Barry died heroically sacrifcing himself. Wally swore at the end of that series he wouldn't become the flash... but one year later with the next crossover Legends he did.

So Wally got his own brand new solo written by Mike Baron who reworked Wally's character.. and somehow made him MORE insufferable, making him into an egotisticla impulsive ladies man who cheated on his girlfriend, let his mother walk all over his new girlfriend, a married woman he was having an affair with. He also was a giant dick to Chunk, a neurotypical genius with black hole powers and planned to exploit him. He also won the lottery, a thing that sure did happen and sure was necessary and not a cheap gimmick no one asked for yes sir.

THe baron run.. was a mess. With Wolfman and perez I can at least see what they were going for and tha tit simply failed. Here I don't know what the fuck Baron was thinking.

Thankfully soon after William Messner Loebs took over, and while i've only read a smidgen of his run and wish more was collected, it's an instant improvment: Wally looses his fortune and becomes more of a relatable every man, the "you could have a beer with him" sort whose just at home at a hockey game as he is fighting snake themed terrorists.

So with Wally's new personality came a stable love intrest in Linda. Linda was just what Wally needed: someone who saw through all his bullshit, that all the swaggering and screwing around was compensating for the mountain of issues he refused ot work through.

Linda ended up seeing enough of Wally's good nature to start dating him casually, which lasted into the Mark Waid run, where the two were truly fleshed out as a couple.. and which i've read a solid chunk of. Mark Waid is seen as the man who truly made wally the flash and it's hard to argue that as Wally grew as a person bit by bit over the run. He was still impulsive, down to earth and quippy as fuck, but the overcompensation, horn doggery and assholishness were gone. He also gave wally his full backstory, and helped him finally get over comparisons to barry, making his speed limit that internalized imposter syndrome I mentiond: he was scared of replacing Barry.. but more scared of letting THIS BASTARD DO IT.... god I gotta cover the Return of Bary Allen sometime.

So through all this growth for Wally, he and linda grew as a couple: When Linda asked just how serious they were Wally balked, then got caught up on a flash thing... before speeding his way on a train to ask her to stay. The two have great chemistry: Linda likes Wally's fun nature, down to earth stylez and the fact he dosen't treat her like she's made of glass.. most of the time (Some incidents shook him up a bit), while Wally loves her no nonsense atittude, the only thing that often cuts thorugh his bullshit when he hyperfixates on his latest problem. She's his rock, he's her roll, and they need that ballance. She keeps him grounded.. and not just in the speed force, as discovering it nearly caused wally to loose himself.. but her love anchored him back.

So their marriage was inevitible and while I coudln't find the proposal issue, it's no suprise it happened: the two loved each other deeply and there's a reason they got so much love in this poll, and it's nice the two are back solidly as a couple with no signs of more ediotial fuckery making one of them not exist or forget the other or whatever.

So with that we're at the wedding. It came towards the end of Mark waid's run, right before Geoff Johns also super special awesome run, with Johns getting to define their married life more. It also begins a bit of a weird arc i'll talk about when we get to the end of the issue btu for now it's a blessed day for a blessed couple under the cut.

Since the wedding itself is supervillain free, we open with a big action set piece. Said set piece is excellent: Waid really knows how to write a flash story and sneakily choose villians who were key to Wally and Linda's history: Kobra

I had to and Mark waid had to know what he was doing introdcuing a snake themed terroist group. Kobra is a cult/terriorst group ran by Kobra with a K. They nearly destroyed Keystone City during the Terminal Velocity arc, with Wally forced to go as fast as he possibly could to save Linda, nearly loosing himself in the process. This is where the anchor thing happened. What I really like is the story.. dosen't bring this up. He just mentions he's "tussled with them" before, so newer readers don't have to get an info dump, but people who've been reading a while get the continuity nod.

It's a fun opener too as Wally zooms around, interogates a guy by shaking him real hard, and finds out Kobra's hiding at Broome Plaza, a nice nod to Wally co-creator John Broome. Kobra can teleport so he nopes out, but wally uses a neat trick: since he's faster than sound, he can catch up to what their saying.. and thus evacuate city hall before their bomb goes off. Said attack annoys wally a little but he's able to catch his marriage certificate. It's a good cold open that gives us some flash action.. and allows the rest of the issue to just be a simple plain clothes wedding.

Granted no wedding is simple and Wally reacts to hearing the cake may be off.. is to kidnap a chef from paris.

I.. I want to know how Wally knows this guy, and why he can just kidnap Pierre at a moment's notice. Did he kindap a random chef or do they have a history? Who was he fighting in paris? he WAS part of Justice League Europe for quite some time so it's plausable but dammit I want this story told Mark.

Linda rather than overreacting.. is greatful she has a soon to be husband whose so kind and considerate he'd run al lthe way to paris to kidnap her a baker. The two get down on the floor but before they can get doooowwnwnnn on the floor Linda's parents walk in. Thankfully their quickly distracted though Wally notices something's off: while Linda's had nothing resembling cold feet she freezes up a bit when Wally brushes off his parents, not even having checked if their coming. As you'll soon se he has every reason not to give a shit.

What he does give a shit about is Linda making Bart, aka impulse the ring bearer. Impulse was Wally's equilvent to kid flash and eventually his kid flash, before Wally became Wally's kid flash more recently. That wasn't a typo, there are two of them, it's not important to any of this.

For those less familiar with my boy, Bart is a hyperactive mess, having been raised in virtual reality simulation in the future and thus having trouble slowing down, not helped by being a speedster whose all but said to have ADHD. Wally's relationship with bart's a contrast to Barry's with him: While Barry was a fair mentor and the father Wally needed, Wally.. simply dosen't have the patience to actually train his young ward. Wally and Bart are too much alike, both impulsive, both running a mile a minute, and thus Bart was trained instead by Wally's own secondary mentor Max Mecury, a golden age speedster who has nothing BUT patience and when Max went into comic limbo, the almost as patent first flash Jay Garrick took the reigns. It's a detail I like as it not only set up Bart's own series well but makes sense: Wally can help Bart in small doses and dosen't abandon him, but simply can't handle the kid. It's telling that noawadays while he's taken a roll in mentoring his cousin, Wallace is both way calmer and Wally's matured enough from being a parent to actually handle being a mentor.

Thankfully Linda has patience for both of them and takes care of bart in a really clever way

Sadly the good times can't last and Wally's parents arrive and we see WHY he was so aphrensive about them showing up.

Yeah besides the .. questionable gifts, Waid does a godo job showing WHY he dosen't like them without getting into their histories: Wally's dad gives him a cheap gift and brings a date younger than his own son, and Wally's Mom's every action towards him is some veiled crticisim. Their awful and waid has never sugacoated that, and their constant baggering may explain New Teen Titans era wally in canon: Wally was less himself at the time because he was BADLY trying to be what they wanted and once he got the freedom of being the flash, he snapped back into being who he truly was.

Wally gets them to go away by playing "LOOK A RELATIVE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT THEIR INHERTIANCE" and linda tenses up again, not getting at WHY she keeps doing that. Wally is quickly distracted by this hair crime

Oh all the ways i'm going to have fun with this. Okay for starters Dick, your the son of the world's greatest detective. Bruce has taught you better wig game than that and you damn well know it. 80's metal hair is not Nightwing level disguise work Richard.

Second... how is the "Theodore Logan" look less conspcious than the adopted son of a millionare being friends with a public figure?

Third: All this is going to do is have papparzi asking "Whose Wally West's Best Man?". Does Dick have a cover identity all set up for this or did he only think of this plan the 5 minutes it took to buy a "babies first winger costume" wig.

Fourth: right after the rest of the titans show up, and Donna herself is a public figure, having taken pictures of starfire and being a high profile fashion photographer, Roy himself is ward of a billionare and Garth has no secret identity. how is "bruce wayne's son" any less conspcious.

And fifth WHY of all the wigs did he choose a perm that resembles their teammate jericho they watched get stabbed in front of them not a year ago probably in universe. Maybe two.

To my shock by the end Joey was apparently fronting whitesnake so what the hell dick. Why remind all your many friends present "oh yeah remember our friend who got stabbed in the chest in front of us".

So the rest of the titans arrive and somehow don't razz Dick for this hair crime, though even through that perm dick can sense somethin'gs off with linda. We get mor ehints why as Wally dosen't intorduce the titans to his family: Linda was the one to invite them and while he's glad they came he's not really.. close to any of them. The people he is make a bit more of an intrance, as the JLA arrive, with Superman worried about paparazzi. I mean dick will never live down that perm if they see it.

Wally kept the location on the DL.. which won't really stop paparazzi , even 90's paparazzi, and just makes Dick's hair somehow more rediculous. Any more and it'll become a force unto itself.

Thankfully more of Wally's REAL family shows up: Iris. for those wondering why this is a big deal at the time Iris was living in the future: she's from the 30th century, it's a long story, point is she stayed there after Barry's death both to raise her kids and to avoid spoiling the future. Ironically she'd come back full time during the next run as the future changed enough she had no idea what to expect, but for now Wally's worried she'll give her dad a heart attack.. only for her to explain she already went and saw her dad and explained stuff. Family is important.

This finally snaps Linda's bugging into focus for Wally: family. Wally's been icing his out and THAT'S what linda keeps being nervous about. So , not supposed to see the bride be dammned, he goes to iron this out in a beautiful scene that both explains WHY he's like this to his family, something we've clearly seen, and why Linda's in no danger

IT's really well done, and I like that Wally acknowledges his extended family.. did nothing wrong. He was just so determined to keep his parents away he accidently kept them away too and geninely wants to work on it. I don't think he DOES, but the comic both changes gears then changes writers after this, and I can't blame Geoff for not following up on this. He was never scared of her.. he just has bad parents.

I also like that the comic has the aseop that it's ENTIRELY okay Wally wants to push his parents away and wants nothing to do with them. There are far too many bits of media that ar elike "Oh your birth family is important, you shouldn't pusht hem away. Your parents mean something".. but forget that sometimes parents are abusive shit stains. I was lucky to get a wonderful mom and a dad I can at least talk to, but not everyone has a good relationship with their parents or wants to be around them. WE've seen how little they actually care about wally or his big day, and how much having them there throws him off. Yet we've also subtly seen.. wally HAS family. He's found family with the titans, with the League. You don't need blood to be a family. You just need love, to respect one another and to be there.. and Wally and LInda have that.

So it's time for the ceremony with the wedding party apparently only consisting of Beavis, Jesse Quick (Close ally of Wally's and fellow speedster) and Bart. It's then Wally realizes something and handles it like the responsible about to be married man he is.

Yeah the fastest man alive, who was hovering over his wife as she planned this ceremony... forgot his vows. it's so wally it hurts and i'm here for it. Thankfully he's the fastest man alive and after thinking back on their history, the good, the bad, and how she's always made him feel... he simply says his vows from the gut, which really is again the most wally west thing imaginable and i'm still here for it.

It's a beautiful speech that sums up their relationship, what they mean..and is also something Wally REALLY shoudl've thought through. You'd think after a decade as a superhero, at least he'd know not to tempt fate as suddenly.. Linda dosen't exisit. Wally finds something with her name, asks dick about it, Dick assumes wally horny Richard, and Dick dosen't even question the haunted wig in his apartment. Linda is trapped and yeah that's how the issue ends.

Yeah, the big milestone wedding.. ends with a fucking kidnapping and leads into an arc I haven't gotten to. And look i'll do a LOT for reasearch, I just covered 20 some issues of Transformers Robots in Disguise so I could cover the crossover with More than Meets the Eye next month, entirely so i'd do it right.. but even i'm not so through that i'd read 18 issues of the flash in an arc i'm eh about reading some day but will probably get to complete the mark waid run for a one and a half issue review.

So the short version of what you missed: Wally disappeared into time and space without LInda to anchor him. Replacing him was Wallace West, an angsty wally from another timeline who replaced him for a while, a storyline I mostly know about because it leaked into JLA for a bit, with Wally revealing his identity to a few people to get their trust. Wallace was the darker and edgier flash no one asked for, fought crime, fell in love... and then Wally came back and rescued LInda, who it turned out had been kidnapped by his old nemisis Abra Kadabra, a magician from the 60th century who as you can tell by how elaborate and dickish this plot is, has a flair for both trying to ruin wally's life and the dramatic. Hilaroiusly, as I read, Wally gets him to undo it.. by pointing out no one knew what he did. So Wallace was supposed to go back and go back miserable because fuck him for wanting to be happy I guess. Can you kinda.. see why I have no real intrest in this storyline outside of Wally and LInda? Maybe pick that up?

So for expediency's sake and to give us a better ending we WILL be covering the flash #159.. but just the wally and linda parts as we don't really need Wallace's dramatic exit.

We do start on it though as the League demands he go home and can't take his girlfriend with him. He picked up a girlfriend it's a thing. Superman is being an uncharactristic super ass while Wally is being less than helpful.. albeit given Wallace DIN'T have his memories of Linda erased and could've been helping them, I can't say I blam ehim.

So once Wallace leaves to have one last good day, Bart, having the tact of a tornado on roller skates, asks when the wedding resumes. Wally decides right the fuck now and speeds into actoin to get everything: catering, her parents farmhouse ready again, the lisence.

Wally spends the day even more hyperactive than usual... which is somehow indeed possible. The superheroes around Linda assure her it's fine, with Donna being the only one to make sure things haven't changed. Linda still LOVES wally.. but she can see something's wrong. And unlike with her on the previous wedding day, Wally's FAR less subtle about it so I don't know why no one else is like "okay maybe we shoudl check on him.

We get to the wedding itself.. and Linda holds it, not wanting to Marry wally while he's having what's clearly a barely supressed emotoinal breakdown.

I love this because it really.. boils down their dynamic: Linda loves wally, who he is and dosen't doubt that for a second.. but she's also 9/10 the one who pulls his head out of his ass. Wally's a good guy, we've seen it here.. but he acts first asks later, and LInda's one the remind him that you have to slow down every once in a while and have a conversation. Also yeah, between Dick's wig and Clark's super pope hat he's bummed he didn't get to wear to this because you bastards didn't ask him to officiate, they've seen weirder.

Wally agrees, yeah that's it. He saw a version of himself who went down a dark path.. and really wasn't THAT diffrent. All it took was loosing linda, which is WHY Walter is an edgelord for the record. Linda.. isn't amused, especially since Wally implies part of this is to widen the gap between them. Wally's friends are.. less than sympathetic. Well okay Roy is. It's just roy actually, Max is worried and Jay knows they just need to work it out and will. But roy well..

That is both a perfect exchange for those two.. and entirely why Roy isn't invited to weddings that much. I only think he got into this one as Donna's +1.

Wally however.. assures her that's not the case and once again gets a fantastic speech in

It's a heartfelt speech and get's linda to just.. skip to the i dos, the two kiss and one of the most solid marriages in all of comcis begins. It's a beautiful speech.

As for the issues themselves.. their okay. Yeah for such a great couple and with so many great moments, the first issue feels a bit short, like we needed more time for the wedding and the whole stupid kidnapping plot means we get cheated out of a reception, which as we've seen from both Rogue and Gambit and Teddy and Billy's nuptial's, is often some of the best stuff, allowing a bunch of characters to bounce off each other. Instead since the circumstances are dire after the intital wedding and dire right before the makeup, with our heroes recovering for it, we don't really get to have FUN with this. There's good moments, but these weddings are a bit of a disapointment and I don't know what Mark Waid or Ediotiral was thinking with this. It's still JUST good enough to not be a complete waste of your time, I recommend at least 142, but it still coudl've been SO much better and it's a shame this is the first wedding for this feature I just. .haven't been that jazzed about. I wanted to like it. the art for the first issue does not help, being all kinds of rediuclous and giving us the enternal shame that is Dick Grayson's perm.

So where did Wally and LInda go from here? Well honestly.. marital bliss at first. As I said Geoff Johns run, a brilliant followup to what Mark Waid did that brought back the Rogues after Waid wrote them out and redefined Captain Cold, follows them as newlyweds: they deal with space, moving, and LInda going back to college for a subplot that ultimately goes nowhere outside of one kidnapping by a prince from another dimension. Story for another time.

The two were solid for the most part and even had an unexpected suprise: TWINS. The two were happy to start their family... but unfortuantely Wally's freshly minted new arch enemy Zoom undid the babies out of his warped thinking tragedy makes better heroes. Which it often does, but feels like a critqiue on piling on tragedy because "that's what sueprheroes are". Granted Geoff Johns isn't innocent of this, but it's still a good lesson.

Afterwards Hal Jordan wiped everyone's memories of wally's identity and after re learning it Linda disappeared before coming back, the babies were restored, and the two had a happy marriage again with kids till infinite crisis. Then wally was put through the SHIT for nigh on a decade until a recent return, a wonderful run you should check out by Jeremey Whitley and a sci fi run I haven't that sounds neat by by my Boy Simon Spurrier. The two aren't without conflict. .but they have a love and understanding that makes them get past it. Wally and Linda have a beautiful relationship and I can't wait to see them again on this blog some day.

For now thanks for reading.

[wanderingmind867]

My Doom Patrol Reinterpretation:

For me, everything pre-crisis on infinite earths remains canon about the Doom Patrol. They were founded by Niles Caulder, and the original team consisted of Cliff Steele, Rita Farr and Larry Trainor. Eventually Mento (Steve Dayton) and Beast Boy (Garfield Logan) got involved too. But eventually, the main four Doom Patrol members all die in Maine. Or well, they seem to die.

As Paul Kupperberg established with his New Doom Patrol, Niles Caulder had a wife. And she assembled a new version of the team to search for her missing husband. The new team consisted of her, robotman, tempest and negative woman. For years, they searched for the other members of the Doom Patrol (even teaming up with people like Superman along the way). But they never managed to find them. And when the crisis on infinite earths hits, they're no closer to finding them then they ever were.

But that's where I'd begin my new reinterpretation. Because Larry Trainor, Rita Farr and Niles Caulder all survived. But for years, they'd been trapped in the surrealist pocket dimension of Mister Nobody, formerly known as Eric Morden. After his first encounter with the Doom Patrol, Morden became a wanted man. Both by the cops and by the brotherhood of evil (for failing them). Desperate, he fled to south america. There, he underwent a dangerous medical procedure to give him superpowers. It worked, but it also drove him completely insane and made him a god amongst men.

Using his newfound powers, he manipulated events so that Madame Rouge would lure the Doom Patrol to Maine and kill them. After the Doom Patrol's bodies were left lying on the ground, Morden stepped in and used his reality bending powers to suck them into a newly formed universe of his own personal design. Robotman somehow managed to escape his trap, but all the others were lured into his fever dream of a dimension. Morden probably also used his powers to try and drive Mento mad, so that he wouldn't interfere with his plans. Knowing Mister Nobody (and also knowing Steve Dayton), it doesn't seem very unreasonable for this to have happened (and for it to have worked very easily).

During the second Crisis (when the Anti-Monitor again tries to earn respect from the Monitor and his prejudicial positive-matter beings), all realities begin to blur together. And it's during this time that the New Doom Patrol finally discover Mister Nobody's scheme. And while the Doom Patrol have their reunion and deal with Mister Nobody in his home ground, the Crisis goes on behind them. The Anti-Monitor is finally revealed as being not that evil, while the Monitor always demonized him and his negative universe to try and consolidate power for himself. And when earth's superheroes learn to help the Anti-Monitor, peace is brought to the universe. The multiverse is restored, and all ends well for the cosmos.

And everything ends relatively well for the Doom Patrol too. The old members and the new members reunite, and collectively decide to work together. And this would be where any new Doom Patrol series picks up. With all of these characters, ranging from Negative Man to Celsius. The one thing I think we could definitely explore here is how being trapped in a fever dream dimension for 10+ years has impacted Larry, Rita and The Chief. Because they've been out of the loop on society for years. They've probably got severe PTSD from whatever the hell Mister Nobody did to them, and I can't imagine that's something they can recover from too easily.

But in general, I think this would be a great way to bring the Doom Patrol back. Better than how they actually did it. Because my idea here has all of the Doom Patrol survive (from Rita Farr to Arani Desai), and it still leaves room for the introduction of characters like the ones Grant Morrison and others would introduce. So I prefer my concept, honestly. And it's the only one i'm willing to believe in. It's simply the only thing that makes sense to me.

[dctrlover1969]