#Editorial Alias

[desifashion]

GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI

[teoriacritica]

i wouldve had gay sex and kept you alive forever

[batsimsposts]

Ok yall, i've seen a lot of misinformation on who was the first *insert superhero here* so here are some common superheroes who passed on their mantle and in what order each character was this hero. This post is meant to be informative.

This post has Batgirl, Robin, Flamebird, and Flash.

BATGIRL

- Bette Kane was Batgirl for seven years (1961-1967) and she was THE original batgirl. (Yup! Barbara was not the first!)

- Barbara Gordon was the most iconic Batgirl and most depictions of Batgirl in animation/live action are her. She was Batgirl from 1967-1988. (There are most recent depictions of her as batgirl but she was officially retired by DC editorial in 1988)

- Helena Bertinelli was Batgirl during the No Man's Land arc which ran through most of 1999. It happened for less than one year so if you don't want to count her that's fine. This list is more for educational purposes.

- Cassandra Cain was Batgirl right after Helena Bertinelli near the end of No Man's Land in 1999. She stopped being Batgirl in 2009 and came back in late 2010 with her new alias Black Bat.

- Stephanie Brown was Batgirl from 2009 to 2011 when DC launched the New52 timeline where she was reverted back to Spoiler.

- Tiffany Fox was Batgirl in 2014 during the league of Batgirls arc.

ROBIN

- Dick Grayson was the original Robin, his first appearance was in 1940 and his last appearance as Robin was in 1984, he was Robin for 44 years.

- Lance Bruner was Robin during a 1969 run of The Brave And The Bold. He died as Robin.

- Jason Todd his first appearance as Robin was in 1983 and he officially took over the Robin mantle in 1984. He died in 1988, being Robin for only four years.

- Carrie Kelley was Robin in 1986 during a Batman comic run. She later adopted the Catgirl mantle. (Alternate universe)

- Tim Drake became Robin after Jason died, his first appearance was in 1989. He became Red Robin in 2009 but got put back into the Robin mantle in 2019, he currently fills in as Robin when Damian is out of town.

- Stephanie Brown was Robin for three months (71 days) in 2004. She was only in a few issues and got nerfed like right after.

- Damian Wayne has been Robin since 2009, and is currently holding the Robin Mantle.

FLAMEBIRD

- Jimmy Olsen was Flamebird Pre-crisis

- Bette Kane was Flamebird post-crisis

- Ak-Var was Flamebird for a little bit

- a Kryptonian hero was also called Flamebird

- Kara Zor-El was Flamebird for a tiny bit

- Lois Lane used the Flamebird alias once

(aka Bette Kane was the one to use the Flamebird alias the most but the alias itself is such a small role that i cant even tell you dates or anything...)

THE FLASH

- Jay Garrick is the original Flash, his first appearance was in 1940. (Timelines are always messed up when referring to Flash so I'm only gonna out their first appearance.)

- Barry Allen was Flash after Jay Garrick, his first appearance was in 1956

- Wally West was originally Kid Flash, but became The Flash after some timeline shenanigans with Barry. His first appearance was in 1960

- Ivana Christina Molotova was experimented on and gained speed powers. She was Lady Flash for a while (1987) but changed her alias shortly before her death.

- John Fox is a Flash from the future (27th century) that went back in time to ask Jay Garrick for help. His appearance was in 1990

- Jesse Quick was The Flash after Wally West was integrated with the speed force. She had the powers of Liberty Belle as well as a connection to the speed force. Her first appearance was in 1992

- Bart Allen was first Impulse and then Kid Flash, he became The Flash after Wally West's disappearance. His first appearance was 1994 (as Impulse)

- Avery Ho became The Flash during DC's Rebirth era. She joined the Justice League Of China and was one of the best Flashes with Bart Allen and Wally West. Her first appearance was in 2016.

__________

This is all for now, let me know if theres a superhero alias you want me to do <3

[zahri-melitor]

Why did Red Robin fail as an alias that Tim was transitioned into? Did it ‘fail’?

I don't have any special insight on this one, but I can give you a bunch of reasons that made it unpopular.

The main one however? It's heavily associated with n52 Tim, and people don't like n52 Tim.

(Heads up going in - I will be using cover dates for all of this, because working with cover dates over publication dates is simpler for me)

Tim used 'Red Robin' as a name between August 2009 and July 2018. This splits up as follows with the major titles he was appearing in:-

2 years, 3 months (August 2009 - October 2011) in Batman Reborn pre-Flashpoint as Red Robin (Red Robin vol 1):

5 years, 1 month (November 2011 - November 2016) in n52 as Red Robin (Teen Titans vol 4 & 5, Batman Eternal, Batman & Robin Eternal):

2 years (August 2016 - July 2018) in Rebirth as Red Robin (Detective Comics):

I wanted to put the photos up to help clarify the differences between each of these versions.

Yes, there's overlap between the last two, because Teen Titans vol 5 finished several months after the start of Tynion's Detective Comics run. The two characters are essentially separate - switching over to Rebirth was a messy process that took several months depending on the title

The majority of appearances of 'Red Robin' as a character are of n52 'Tim Drake', who doesn't have the same backstory, parents or history as Robin as the characters either side of him. He's the one that most long term fans of the character would rather not talk about or think about.

Tynion's Detective Comics run between 2016 to 2018 was about taking the characters therein back to their pre-Flashpoint characterisation, as much as possible. And you can tell from the costume, Tim was 'Red Robin' in name only. He was wearing a Robin costume that simply happened to have an extra R on the crest. He looked like a Robin, acted like a Robin, was doing Robinlike work for Batman, and when Young Justice 2019 started he got a costume update that dropped the extra R from the top and he's been using Robin again ever since (less the attempt at using 'Drake' as a code name in 2020).

So why did it fail? Here's a bunch of reasons:

People don't like the cowl design on Tim: even Marcus To, the artist best associated with Tim as Red Robin before Flashpoint, perpetually draws Tim with the cowl down and often with part of the costume off for commissions and artwork.

People don't like the new 52 version of Tim.

Red Robin was a costume that Tim put on back in 2009 as a punishment to himself while was was doing 'unRobinlike' things looking for Bruce, and once that circumstance was over, there wasn't that much time during Reborn to really cement it as Tim's adult persona due to the universe getting cut off and rebooted.

New 52 Tim was largely not associated with the rest of the Bats for various editorial reasons, making him an outsider that's unusual compared to the rest of his characterisation since 1989.

To show the difference for Tynion's 'Tec run and convince all the fans that new 52 Tim was gone, they decided to make a very clear visual distinction between the characters. That visual distinction essentially was making Tim into a Robin again.

If you're looking at character storyline for Tim Drake, son of Jack and Janet, the story arc effectively goes: Batman Reborn, Convergence, Detective Comics, Young Justice 2019. Which is a story of Tim transferring himself back OUT of the Red Robin costume as he healed and no longer needed it as a temporary measure, and regaining his memories and history.

I mean, why would DC want to use Red Robin for Tim? It's got the difficulty that Jason has taken over effective ownership of the colour red for identification in the family purposes. It's associated with times of grief in Tim's life (because Tim explicitly wears red for loss: for Kon and for Bruce) and with storylines they've excised from his history. It's explicitly a form of self-flagellation.

It could have been Tim's Nightwing, but it's effectively ended up Tim's Grayson period. Something that happened and is referenced, but there are good reasons not to return to.

[spockanalia-archive]

Spockanalia #1: Contents and Art Credits

By Devra Michele Langsam and Sherna Comerford

Lettercol...What's a lettercol doing in a one-shot? The logical thing would be to look and see: 7

The Territory of Rigel, by Dorothy Jones: 8

Off the Top: A Bulletin and Editorial, by Yeds: 10

A Most Illogical Song, by Shirley Meech et alia: 12

Physiologica Vulcanensis, by Sherna Comerford, Juanita Coulson, and Kay Anderson: 14

A Proposed Model of the Vulcan Heart, by Sandy Deckinger: 21

To a Vulcan, by Sherna Comerford: 24

Also to a Vulcan, by Devra Michele Langsam: 25

The Vulcan Gambit, by Shirley Meech: 26

Vulcan Psychology: A Brief Survey of Personality Development and Life Adjustment in a Human/Vulcan Hybrid, by Juanita Coulson: 28

Spock Shock, by Sherna Comerford: 38

Vulcans and Emotions, by Devra Michele Langsam: 43

Kirk and Spock, by Ruth Berman: 46

'S Blood, by Sherna Comerford and Devra Michele Langsam: 47

Thoughts on Vulcan Culture, by Devra Michele Langsam: 48

Excerpts from The Young Vulcan's Handbook of Emotional Control, translated by Shirley Meech: 55

Record Review, by Dorothy Jones: 58

Star Drek, by Ruth Berman: 62

Acknowledgements: 89

Art Credits

Kathy Bushman: Cover, 23, 33, 53

Sherna Comerford: 13, 22, 35

Juanita Coulson: 9, 65, 69, 72, 76, 80, 83, 86

DEA: 16, 19, 27, 29, 39, 41, 44, 56, 60

Dick Flood: 24

Devra Michele Langsam: "Mr. Ears," 25, 47, 50, 89

Lettering:

Chester Malon, Jr.: 3

Sherna Comerford: All other lettering

TYPISTS: Devra Michele Langsam, Sandy and Mike Deckinger, and Elaine Cooke

HEROIC, VALIANT POORFEATER: Sherna Comerford

ELECTRONIC STENCILS CUT BY: Julius Postal

FILLOS HAND-CUT BY: Juanita Coulson, Sherna Comerford, and Brian Burley

Note: With the help and guidance of Open Doors, we digitized the first volume of Spockanalia and imported it to AO3, which you can view here. In order to meet AO3's terms of service, some of the content was edited or removed. The full version of the zine is preserved on this blog. The masterpost is here.

[moirtre]

*    03.    ANTHOLOGY: the solo activities of letalis.

capitalizing on the immediate success experienced by the seven-piece, apricus began promoting solo activities for each of the members two years after their debut. aside from music, the members have all managed to successfully find their niche activities, allowing them identities apart from their role in letalis.

 ‎ ‎ ┉       *       ﹙ㅤʬ              ›             NAIRA.

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀going by the solo alias of naira christiansen, naira was the first member to pursue acting as her primary solo activity. typically appearing in thai soap dramas and short films, she's made a name for herself as one of the most sought-after female leads. her most notable drama, released in 2018, features naira as a workaholic university professor who finds herself being pursued by a hardened ceo in the midst of a pr disaster.

 ‎ ‎ ┉       *       ﹙ㅤʬ              ›             MELANIE.

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀easily the most well-known member outside of the group, melanie was the first to embark on solo activities. known for her self-made brand, melanie has found success as both a solo artist and brand ambassador. beginning with her musical debut under the name, melanie bae, in 2015, she has released a total of eight solo projects including three #1 albums, 37 charted songs, 3 top ten songs, and one #1 single. her most popular release, chanel blues (2020) received both popular and critical acclaim even being cited as the album of the year by billboard magazine.

 ‎ ‎ ┉       *       ﹙ㅤʬ              ›             JUNIPER.

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀outside of the group, juniper is best known for her infamous mysterious persona. as a model juniper finds her niche in avant-garde high fashion editorials and runways. beginning with a controversial calvin klein endorsement in 2017, juniper quickly became one of the most sought-after models, appearing in multiple subsequent campaigns for the brand through 2019. after being named the international face of valentino in 2021, she's opened every major fashion week show for the brand since.

 ‎ ‎ ┉       *       ﹙ㅤʬ              ›             EMMY.

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀as a soloist, emmy has continuously proven herself to be a powerhouse without having to compete with melanie's demographic. as the second to begin her solo activities in late 2015, emmy's status as an icon is most notable in japan and the united kingdom. debuting as a solo artist with her rap-heavy japanese album, emmy found rapid success within the japanese entertainment industry landing variety show appearances and a few action dramas. her rise to stardom in the united kingdom came in 2022 through her casting as the fiery, altruistic new anchor celine misuki in the hbo max drama 'succession'.

 ‎ ‎ ┉       *       ﹙ㅤʬ              ›             NARYUN.

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀notably the last to begin solo activities, naryun has found a home in the r&b and neo-soul scene. taking heavy inspiration from artists like frank ocean, solange, umi, and sabrina claudio, naryun quickly established herself as a self-producing artist. with all of her music being written, produced, and composed by herself and close friends, trenton won and hwang minseo, naryun takes on a more underground feel with her music. choosing to focus on personal growth and musical quality, naryun has released two full-length albums since her debut in 2019.

 ‎ ‎ ┉       *       ﹙ㅤʬ              ›             HERI.

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀despite her apathy for public attention, heri began making a name for herself as a television personality and producer in 2018. beginning with her appearances on running man and i live alone, heri gained a reputation for being a bashful personality with a competitive edge. additionally, though less known, heri has found acclaim for her production credits under the penname carré. often pairing up with songwriting and composition duo romeo and pluto (better known as avos' hwaseong), heri is often spotted on apricus' most futuristic credits. most recently, she has been one of three rotating hosts of apricus culture's exclusive variety show, for the culture, since its debut in 2022.

 ‎ ‎ ┉       *       ﹙ㅤʬ              ›             SIENNA.

‎ ‎ ⋆⠀⠀&.⠀⠀٬⠀⠀a known triple threat, if anyone can give melanie a run for her money, it's sienna. though initially making her acting debut in 2017, sienna quickly proved herself to be a capable actress landing a lead role in a short-lived netflix original in 2018. her continued display of acting prowess carried her through her beloved roles as lexie lim in the movie 'love, simon' and its sequel 'love, victor' as well as the infallible angelia ellery in netflix's 'the politician'. after announcing a break from acting in 2022, sienna reinvented her image through her pure pop debut album, barbie blues. the album debuted to immense attention in the western music market, securing sienna's american music award recognition as 'best new artist'.

[sjbattleangel]

"As a casual comic book fan, I really enjoy the MCU." This website:

"Dan Slott's Spider-Man run was fantastic, fun romp reminiscent of the character's Silver-Age years." This website:

"I really love Tom Taylor's run on Nightwing and Superman: Son Of Kal-El." This website:

"Look, I get that Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV wanted to bring the character of Cass Cain as created by Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott but, thanks to editorial, they were forced to give her a completely new backstory, a new alias and she no longer had the ability to predict her opponents moves. Still, Batman & Robin Eternal was a great series; the Joker War one-shot The Symbol was an awesome return to form for the Batgirls; The Batgirls series was really fun; I'm looking forward to the rest of her adventures with the Birds Of Prey." This website:

"I love Tom King's work on Mister Miracle, Vision and Wonder Woman." This website:

"I really enjoy the works of Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Donny Cates and Jonathan Hickman." This website:

"Jeremy Whitley, G. Willow Wilson and Mariko Tamaki are some of my favourite authors working in comics right now." This website:

"Joshua Williamson is one of my new favourite working in comics. He absolutely knows his stuff and it's great that he's the new architect of the DC Comic Universe." This website:

"Grant Morrison is one of my favourite comic authors." This website:

"The Last Of Us Part II is a freaking masterpiece." This website (and the entire internet):

"I get that it has a horrible fanbase but I still love Rick & Morty." This website (and the entire internet):

"I get that it's not as epic or glorious ATLA and each season was rushed due studio interference and the creators uncertainty of the series containing, The Legend Of Korra is still a fantastic series with great writing." This website (and the entire internet):

"Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil is still a great series regardless of the controversial final season." This website (and the entire internet):

"I know Vivziepop was a member of the 4Chan boards as a teenager and art student, I'm well-aware that she might be control-freak, slave-driver but I still enjoy Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel regardless." This website:

"The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars film alongside The Empire Strikes Back. Rian Johnson is one of my favourite new filmmakers working today." This website (and the entire internet):

"I love Steven Universe, She-Ra and The Owl House. They are hopepunk masterpieces." This website (and the entire internet):

[cherrylng]

THE INCREDIBLE ALBUMS OF EARLY 2008 - Coldplay [ROCKIN'ON (July 2008)]

THE INCREDIBLE ALBUMS OF EARLY 2008 And in-depth coverage of the biggest releases of 2008!

Six months into 2008, we are entering what can be called the first release rush of the year. In this special feature, we look at new releases that herald the start of a drastic new chapter for some of the biggest bands in the UK and US, including Coldplay, Weezer and Offspring, which herald the beginning of a drastic new chapter, as well as The Music, which has made a miraculous comeback, and Cajun Dance Party. Following on is Rocking On's biggest newcomers of the year, Hadouken! Green Day's alias project Foxboro Hot Tubs, and Primal Scream's new album, which arrived just before the deadline, its name is "Beautiful Future"! ……We pick up seven albums that will inevitably make the first half of 2008 hot and driving, and push them hard with long interviews and thorough reviews by the entire editorial team. Incidentally, more than half of the artists featured in this special feature are already confirmed for Summer Sonic and Fuji Rock. So, with the summer festival season just around the corner, here are the most important albums you must listen to. Combined with the second feature ‘NOW & NEW 14 BANDS’, which also lists a number of promising newcomers, another major feature of the summer festival season, you can create your own sound map for this summer!

[soleminisanction]

An earlier ask reminded me that there’s still one sequence of Batgirl (2009) that I’ve always wanted to break down because my frustration with it is palpable so…why not. This is as good a time as ever. Let’s talk about Issue 24 and extended fantasy sequence that makes up the very end of this series.

See, apparently—and I have not been able to find a first-hand record of the interview that confirms this, so take it with a grain of salt—Brian Q. Miller decided that, since the universe was getting reset in the wake of Flashpoint, his Batgirl was getting canceled and Stephanie was getting retconned out of existence for the New52, he would use a fantasy sequence in the final issue show off all the wonderful ideas he never got to do because of editorial meddling or whatever. Which is… fine. Y’know? I get it, it’s utterly self-indulgent but not an invalid way to deal with your book getting canceled before you can finish all you set out to do.

The thing is though, sequences like this don’t just exist in the vacuum of their Doylist explanation. The entire narrative point of fantasy sequences like this, whether they’re fear gas, or lotus eater machines, or especially the Black Mercy, isn’t just to have a cool spectacle for the audience to look at, it’s to take a part of the character’s inner life and put it on display for everyone to see.

So the question I’m asking here is: what does a Watsonian reading of finale sequence say about Our Heroine, Stephanie Brown?

Quick primer for those of you who may be unfamiliar: the Black Mercy is an Alan Moore creation, originally introduced in the story he wrote with Dave Gibbons for 1985’s Superman Annual #11 – “For the Man Who has Everything.”

If you’re my age, you may be more familiar with this story as a fantastic episode of Justice League Unlimited, which has the notable distinction of being the only Alan Moore adaptation that the old warlock actually likes. The basic story of both is the same: Batman and Wonder Woman (and, in the comic, the Jason Todd Robin) arrive at the Fortress of Solitude for Superman’s birthday, only to find that Mongul has trapped Supes under the influence of the Black Mercy, a magical alien parasite that digs its vines into its victim’s chest while trapping their minds in an illusion of their ideal perfect life.

“For the Man Who has Everything” is regarded as one of the best Superman stories ever written so it’s honestly kind of a surprise that the Black Mercy has only shown up a handful of times since then. But I’m not complaining, because it means the concept hasn’t been diluted much… with this appearance in Batgirl being a notable exception, in weird ways that make me really wonder what was intentional and what wasn’t.

See, this whole thing starts when Steph confronts her father, Arthur Brown, alias the Cluemaster, in his prison cell. And Arthur—a second-rate Riddler knock-off whose only experience outside of Gotham was an extremely brief Suicide Squad adventure to Iceland where everybody died—just, has a Black Mercy, an incredibly rare and dangerous magical alien super plant, sitting in his prison cell. As you do.

Arthur then puts Steph under the Mercy’s influence to cover his escape from the cell, but he doesn’t subject her to the Black Mercy for real, he crushes one of the blossoms and blows it in her face, which his dialogue implies is something he regularly does to himself as a recreational experience.

Which means that, despite the following pages making a big freaking deal about “spores in her system” and Barbara gushing about how special Stephanie is for being able to, quote, “fight the Mercy and win,” it’s all a load of shit. Arthur didn’t need to be rushed to the hospital every time he took this drug, so it would follow the Stephanie doesn’t either.  

That would actually make a lot of sense for Arthur as a character—for all his faults, he’s usually written as caring for his family and not wanting Stephanie permanently hurt (a sentiment she generally doesn't return). Hell, his last appearance before this one was trying to get revenge for her death. If that was intentional, it would mean that in the above panel, Stephanie knows that Barbara’s conclusion about her “fighting the Mercy” is full of shit and just, isn’t telling her.

I have no confidence that it was intentional—given the rest of the series I think it’s far more likely that Miller & Co. just didn’t want the icky flower vines to mess up Steph’s boobies and thus came up with a convoluted alternative that they immediately forgot the rules for—but I wish it was because it would actually be an interesting character turn. Black Mercy stories usually hinge on the emotional climax of the enraptured hero choosing to give up the beautiful illusion of a life they can never have in order to return to the hard world where they have real friends and heroic responsibilities waiting for them. Just ask anyone who still cries over this scene:

Stephanie not getting that moment and only escaping because it’s a temporary drug would imply that she’s still very susceptible to her own desires. It’s a way that she’s fallen short compared to others who’ve been subjected to the full Black Mercy experience. And who knows, maybe she could’ve pulled herself out of it if the illusion had lasted longer… but maybe she wouldn’t have. She can’t know. And that doubt could sit with her.

It doesn't. But it could, in a better story.

And then there’s the illusion itself. Keep in mind as we go through this, this montage, in-universe, represents Stephanie’s idea of her ideally perfect life. Just for comparison, in “For the Man Who has Everything,” Superman’s ideal life has him living on Krypton as a normal man, married with children, happy and content in his normal life. Batman saw his parents’ murder foiled and the life that could have unfolded without that tragedy to define it. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), in another story, saw a world where his parents never died, his family is happy together, and his mentor Sinestro never turned evil.

Stephanie? Stephanie sees herself as Batgirl, posing dramatically and beating up random street thugs in a metaphorical continuation of her current status quo. Then there’s a sequence where she’s fighting the Queen of Fables alongside the four female heroes, all of whom except for Supergirl literally appeared out of nowhere in the last issue with no explanation because we need to pretend that Stephanie is very popular and well-liked and not a stuck-up loner who rarely leaves Gotham City and almost never talks to anybody but her boyfriend when she does.

But y’know, this scene makes sense right? Steph dreams of being a successful superhero and fantasizes about going on grand superhero adventures with other superheroes, fine. That’s all well and good.

Then comes the Blackest Night page which is just... ugh.

I am so glad DC vetoed this idea because it’s genuinely embarrassing. I get (finally! it several painful re-reads) that what Miller has been trying to do with Stephanie this entire book is pretend that she can be Captain America or Superman: a character who doesn’t so much develop or change as they do lead by example and inspire others to have hope for the future just by being themselves. So of course when he hears that Blue Lanterns are powered by hope he neeeeeeds that for his precious Batgirl—an idea that he apparently carried over to the Smallville Season 11 comics, but we’ll come back to that in a moment.

The problem of course being that Stephanie had never been that kind of character before Brian Miller decided she should be, and he did absolutely nothing to work his way up to earning her that status. So shit like this comes across as, frankly, blatant attempts to turn her into a Mary Sue, especially with how badly he refused to deal with her actual history and established character.

But again, remember: in-universe, this illusion isn’t being imposed on Stephanie, it’s being created by her, by her mind. This is part of her greatest desire. So where other heroes long to be safe and happy, surrounded by their families, Stephanie, apparently, wants nothing less than to be a literal Messiah figure. And I’m not exaggerating there—Blue Lanterns are supposed to be the holiest beings in the universe.

Just… the ego that implies. Yeesh.

After that comes a black-and-white photograph implying a time travel adventure where the three Batgirls (presumably from different eras in their own timelines) go back to 1944 to fly with the (male) Blackhawks. I’m not going to post it because there’s not really anything to say about it and this is already a long post but Stephanie’s stupid utility garter belt is drawn so HUGE it takes up her ENTIRE THIGH almost up to the crotch and it’s super distracting.

Then comes this scene.

Which mostly just drives home how much Steph hates her boring average school life given that she’s fantasizing about being attacked by supervillains at her graduation so her secret identity can be exposed to her entire graduating class. Thing is though, you’d think this should be a nightmare. Her identity has been exposed! She’s being attacked out in the open by supervillains and she doesn’t have her gear or weapons! Her classmates and—explicitly up in the audience—her mother are in danger, because Stephanie is Batgirl!

But because this is a Black Mercy illusion, we know it’s not a nightmare. This is, explicitly, something that Stephanie wants to happen. It’s part of her fantasy life, her greatest desire. And yeah, if we’re being generous, she probably isn’t thinking that people are going to get hurt. In her fantasy, she probably just gets to show off and save the day and be venerated as Gotham University’s Great Hero, like Buffy getting crowned the Sunnyville Class Protector. But even that, the most generous of readings, implies that she has never internalized the lesson that she should have learned back in War Games re: the great power of being a superhero coming with great responsibility. It absolutely flies in the face of anybody’s attempts to insist that no really, she’s only doing this whole superhero thing because she cares about other people SO MUCH.

Following that is page of what’s clearly Neo-Gotham, flashing forward many years into the future, where Steph is wrangling some kid into bed (while wearing her wedding ring on the second knuckle because otherwise you wouldn’t be able to see it and that might imply she’s a single mom) with the Batsignal shining out the window.

Which leads us, at last, to the page I have the most to say about, and the one that is my biggest inspiration for make this post:

I. Hate. This page.

I hate it because it gets regularly reposted without context on Tumblr and Reddit so the Steph simps can gush over how much they wish it was real and how Stephanie should get to be every single member of the Batfamily because she’s just so awesome and not one of them ever stops to think about what any of it would or should actually mean in-universe or out.

This page exists because Brian Q. Miller was originally a writer on Smallville. He joined the team around Season 5, served as showrunner for Season 10, and used the connections he made there to get some comic book jobs, including Batgirl and the spin-off comic Smallville Season 11. In “Season 11,” they finally showed the Smallville version of Gotham City and Batman, who is accompanied by only a single sidekick: not Robin, but Barbara Gordon as an (adult) female Nightwing who eventually becomes a Blue Lantern (hence the Blackest Night page earlier).

Now again, I cannot find the original source for this so I’m going off fandom rumor and wiki trivia, but supposedly, Brian’s original pitch was that the Smallville character would also be Stephanie, making her the only Batfamily member to ever exist in that universe. DC’s editors supposedly made him switch to Barbara instead, which was smart of them, because it’s way more likely that the people picking up the Smallville comic would be excited to see her, one of the most famous pop-culture characters ever invented, and not a satellite character like Stephanie who’s only familiar to a niche market. (This for the record is the same reason Babs is the Batgirl in Gotham Knights.)

So that’s the out-of-universe explanation for why Brian would stick this idea here, but stop and think about this for half a second: why the fuck would Stephanie want to be Nightwing?

Nightwing is not like Batman, Batgirl, or even Robin, it’s not a larger symbol with a legacy behind it. If you say the word Nightwing in the DC Universe, you’re referring to only one of two things: either you’re Kryptonian and you’re referencing a legendary figure from your lost planet’s mythology (either a god or a culture hero depending on the continuity), or you’re talking about Dick Grayson. Every other character who has ever taken on the name in a non-Kryptonian context has done so because of their relationship to Dick: either to piss him off (Jason), because they were inspired by him (Cheyenne Freemont, the Nightwings, Nite-Wing in a negative capacity), or in memoriam/penance after his death (Damian in the first Injustice game).

But Stephanie doesn’t have that kind of relationship with Dick. At this point in her career, they’d barely spoken, and all of their meaningful interactions had been with him as Batman. Nightwing means nothing to her. She has no emotional connection to identity, not even the desire to be “part of the legend” that drove her to chase Robin and Batgirl. So then, why? Why is this part of her fantasy?

Well… because if Batgirl isn’t the second-most popular superhero in the franchise after the Big Bat himself, then Nightwing is. And all Stephanie has apparently ever wanted is to be everybody’s favorite superhero, loved and adored and told how she’s so very special and wonderful, forever.

---

In Conclusion – As you might’ve noticed back in the panels where Steph was getting dosed, Brian Miller actually calls out his own bookending, having started the story with a climax where Steph got exposed to a fear-gas-based-anger drug and ended it with one where she encounters the Black Mercy. Like I’ve said before, the narrative purpose of hallucination sequences like this are to lay the characters’ psyches bare and show us who they really are on the inside. 

In issue 3, Stephanie’s anger/fear gas exposure (and the resulting philosophically frustrating speech) presents Stephanie as someone whose primary motivation is her own self-interest, the sense of control and personal triumph she gets from being a superhero. All through the series, the way she handles her rare rescues (and, even more tellingly, the few people who don’t immediately recognize her greatness) only backs that up.

And now, the Black Mercy sequence, the very last thing to happen in the entire series, just solidifies it: after 24 issues, she hasn’t changed. Her only desire, the only thing she cares about, is that she gets to be a badass superhero who goes on adventure after adventure without worry or care for anyone around her, even after multiple people have literally died over the course of just this book. Who cares? They’re not Stephanie, so they don’t matter. It’s all about her. 

I will never understand what anyone saw in this series.

[starryspectre]

Hey!! Here’s my updated commission sheet. Everything is correct as of February 2023. You can also tip me on ko-fi here

It’s very important that you read the T&Cs under the read more before commissioning me. I’ve tried to keep it as short and sweet as possible, but there are things you need to know in order to have the most streamlined experience possible.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to send me an ask or email.

Thanks! ♥

Notes

Standard resolution is 300dpi. Size can be altered to meet requirements.

Please let me know if you want to remain anonymous, if you do not want the work to be shared, or want to use an alias when the work is presented in my portfolio.

All images will have a watermark during the WIP stage. The watermark will be removed upon delivery of the artwork.

Please remember that all copyright is retained by me, the artist, and starryspectre/Bel must be credited when/if you share the artwork anywhere. If you share my artwork online, a link to my site or blog would be really helpful, but it isn’t mandatory.

Usage

These price guidelines are for personal use only. Commercial artwork (e.g. book illustrations, editorials etc) will require further negotiation of prices, as well as a new contract and licensing agreement.

Please contact me directly if you’re uncertain or the artwork is intended for commercial use.

Development

Major revisions (e.g. changing a pose, clothing, angles etc) are best decided on during the sketch phase of the artwork. This is because I am a traditional artist and major revisions are not easily achieved once the work is completed. This means that once I get your approval on a sketch, no more major revisions can be be done. So please tell me if something is not to your liking or you would like something significantly altered during the sketch stage.

Please try to keep major revisions to a minimum of two.

Minor revisions (such as a small change of colour or fine details) are okay and incur no added cost.

Please send references to help me meet your requirements as closely as possible. This can include sketches and photos, but descriptions are also useful.

If you do not have a very solid idea of what you want, it’s okay! These are simply rough guidelines for the limits of what I can/will do. Much of the brief will likely be created during our initial discussion, so if you’re not sure, the best idea is to just shoot me a message and see if we can come up with something.

Payment

Paypal is preferred but if you live in the UK and would rather do a bank transfer, this can also be arranged.

50% of the payment is expected before the commencement of work on the commission, and 50% upon its completion.

Alternatively, you can pay me 100% of my fee before the commencement of work if you prefer.

Cancellation & Kill fees

If the commission is cancelled before the sketch stage, I will refund you fully.

If the commission is cancelled during the sketch phase, I will refund 50% of the initial fee paid. If you have paid in full already, I will repay 75% of the overall fee.

If the commission is cancelled after the sketch phase, there will be no refund.

If I cannot complete the commission for some unjustifiable reason of my own, I will refund you fully.

Content

I will not illustrate depictions of excessive gore, violence, or hateful subject matter (racism, homophobia, misogyny etc).

Nudity and NSFW commissions will be accepted as long as they do not fall into the above categories.

I will not plagiarise another artist’s work, designs or style.

Contact

You can contact me in a variety of ways:

E-mail: starryspectre@gmail.com (preferred)

Via an ask on Tumblr

Via PM on Artstation

My timezone is GMT or GMT+1 in Summer. If you need your work by a certain date/time, please let me know beforehand.

[housetykayl]

Hey there! First time running into your account, and by God! I love your Starfire content! One burning question - since we know Starfire is a model under the alias Kory Anders, what do you think that life as a model would be for her based on her character? How would she handle clubs/parties? What would her IG handle and followers count be? What would she model for? How would she cover up her superhero identity given she’ll be followed by simps?

I'm not going to pull any panels for this because I'm feeling very lazy! I love this question sm, though, because Kory's modeling career is very interesting to me + inspired me to pursue my own for a time!

Kory is only incognito as a model very early on in her career and, at some point, the Wolfman-Perez team quietly dropped that aspect and any time she was modeling, she was openly herself w/o anything covering her eyes. her career isn't really touched on much outside of the handful of photoshoots we see--like her early denim photoshoot, a beach shoot with Donna, etc.--and also outside of her being recognized by the press for both her modeling and her status as the resident alien princess superhero on Earth (which is why Dick, instead of Kory, is almost always incognito when they go out together after a certain point in NTT and then New Titans)

as for her life as a model: Kory is 6'4" and, in most depictions, is thin in the extreme meaning she would have no trouble finding editorial work and walking some of the most high profile shows. her modeling career isn't super serious in the comics, so I don't see her modeling for most of the year but she would absolutely end up being the muse of either an established or up-and-coming fashion house. she's not a model you see in product photos, she's a model you see on the cover of Vogue, a model you see in editorials in local and international fashion magazines, etc. etc. her career would be relatively easy in that she doesn't have to go looking for jobs and she probably doesn't have to go to casting calls (which are literal hell sometimes). I think modeling would be like a fun hobby for her more than a job because she doesn't have to do it all the time and would get the highest paying jobs, which supplement her income for most of the year.

her IG handle would probably just be @ koryanders or koriandr because, as mentioned previously, she doesn't seem to have a ton of interest in covering up her identity. she's definitely one of the models that has upwards of a million followers because she's been on Instagram FOREVER and I think she would eventually go on to do public speaking which would draw even more people to her page. I also don't see her going to parties/events beyond the requisite events or events that she personally is really drawn to. meaning, she's going to go to after parties and she'll go to events thrown by friends or by her agency or to events that she absolutely knows Donna is going to be at but I don't think she would be interested in parties that strangers throw, ykwim?

I think that she would eventually form her own sort of mother agency, while still modeling for the agencies she's signed to, as a means of providing younger models with an opportunity they may not otherwise get.

[desifashion]

Alia Bhatt for Elle India

[tastaturean]

Andrés es mi personaje favorito de “El Perdedor” de Myriam M. Lejardi, alias Pilkunnussita. Este desvergonzado grandullón, adoptado y con dos padres, sirve de incitador y pegamento en una pandilla entrañable de inadaptados formados por un bisexual patoso, una hetero influencer y Nacho alias Pistacho, un estudiante de ingeniería delgaducho y tiradísimo del que sólo se sabe que le gusta fumar, dormir y las matemáticas, que llama “hermano” a todos y que siempre graba con el móvil todas las locuras que se les ocurren a sus amigos.   Como ya comenté en anteriores recomendaciones, conocí esta historia de casualidad por publicidad en Internet, me gustó el estilo de los extractos, le di una oportunidad y no me decepcionó. Entonces no conocía a Myriam, pero ahora me suelo leer todo lo que publica, porque tiene un estilo ágil, gamberro y a la vez tierno, que es TAL y como me gusta. Aunque su pareja principal suele ser heterosexual, siempre hay contenido LGTB, y tiene una historia de vampiros y seres sobrenaturales con rollo bollo molón (“Prende Fuego a la noche”) donde los villanos principales son los gemelos Weasley, tal cual. En enero saca la continuación de “Cómo (no) enamorarse”, que se llama “Tres (no) son multitud”, con un trío/ ¿triángulo? de dos chicos y una chica. ¡Qué ganas! “El Perdedor” es un libro que no dejo de recomendar, y que sigo sin entender cómo no está de frente en las estanterías de las principales librerías, presumiendo de portada molona. La editorial es Fandom Books. Las ilustraciones son de Nagore Odriozola. En serio, dadle una oportunidad, seguro que como mínimo pasáis un buen rato con esta pandilla inolvidable.

[tl3dproject]

Maya Research

What is Maya?

Maya is an industry standard 3D modelling software and is used by many big companies in the games industry. Maya can be used for a range of things, from interior design to architectural modelling to film scenes. Currently it is owned and developed by Autodesk, but was originally developed by Alias systems. But because of how powerful and useful the software is, it grabbed attention in the games industry.

Black Ops III:

Call of Duty Black Ops III is a first person shooter that was developed by Treyarch and published by Activision on November 6, 2015. It was released onto Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4 and Xbox One, but some feature limited versions that only supported multiplayer, were released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

This game was entirely modelled and textured in Maya, which had a toolset that helped make it work well. The toolset included: Access to a range of amazing tools for character creation; 3D editorial; and keyframe, procedural, and scripted animation. This game was a top seller in 2015 and was a huge success, and is still considered a success now. This proves that Maya is at such a high standard and can produce amazing results that helps boost a game's success rate. When I played the game before, I found it to be incredibly detailed and have many amazing features, especially zombies. The result of the game is incredible and how it was entirely modelled and textured is impressive. The lighting works really well in this game and in zombies it really helps with the apocalyptic theme, with some areas being very limited to light and more intimidating, whereas some areas have quite a gray light that exposes rubble. The character models on this game are also impressive, in the main game and zombies, and they include tons of details that really show how much time was spent on designing. These designs go from the zombies skin, to the character's armour and clothes

Uncharted 4:

Uncharted 4 is an adventure-action game that was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony in May 2016. It was only published onto the Playstation 4, obviously as it was a Sony release, and is a played from a third person perspective that involves a few platformer elements. The development of the game started all the way back in 2011, but the progress slowed down in 2014 due to issues with people at Naughty Dog. However, despite the issues of staff at the company, the game took a long time to make which shows how much detail and ideas were added into the game. A Thief’s End won several year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications, critics, and game award ceremonies. There were roughly 15 million copies sold and is one of the highest selling Playstation 4 games of all time.

Naughty Dog have used Maya since Uncharted 2 and use the software to record a character's movements and transplant them into another.

[tartarusrising-rp]

OOC INFO

Name/Alias: King Pronouns: She/Her Age: 33 Timezone: EST

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Aria Boughton Character Age: 28 Character Birthday (with year): July 9th, 1996 Gender & Pronouns: Cis Woman & She/Her Affiliation: Tartarus Occupation: Cleaner for Tartarus & Editorial Photographer Faceclaim: Courtney Eaton

BIOGRAPHY

tw; murder, death, faux suicide, mental health

By the time her parents moved her to the states, Aria was a little eleven year old spitfire. Her father had to follow where the money was, and the money was apparently some well-off business that, at the time, she didn’t quite understand. He’d explained it to her and her mother before moving - the most she could make sense of was pushing money for people much richer than they were. It wasn’t until years later than she understood and pitied the man that he became.

From out of the heat and into the freezer, Aria had a harder time adjusting than she would have liked to admit. Most of her middle school years were spent keeping quiet and without very many friends. She didn’t quite grow out of her surliness and anxiety of a new place until her later years of high school - only finding a place to slot into when she finally allowed herself to try and get out, rather than sit and stew in her anger and panic.

Extracurriculars helped — yearbook and student council, which is where Aria attributes the beginning of her obsession with photography. Her parents would instead cite her eight birthday and the compact Polaroid camera they’d gifted her. It was also around this time that her father began to spend more and more time at work and away from the family. He would come home more exhausted and stressed out than ever before, but Aria was so wholly focused on getting into college that she paid it no mind.

Her first year of college at Northeastern University was stressful, but she had her mother’s support throughout. Her father was still more absent than he had been for her entire life - and it wasn’t until the holidays that she found out why. It was supposed to be a nice, small family dinner with just the three of them. She and her mother had to celebrate by themselves and her father stumbled into the home drunk and roughed up - bloodied and beaten. Confused, they tried to convince him to seek medical attention, but he refused.

Later that night, unable to sleep because of her father’s drunken idiocy, she went downstairs and came face to face with the reason her father had been absent. Or at least part of the reason. A person clad in all black unscrewed the cylinder of a silencer, and Aria glanced towards where they had been aiming. Her father - with a bullet through his skull - lay haphazard on the couch. They’d been thorough in trying to make it look self-inflicted but now she’d gained the attention of the hitman.

There was no warning as they approached and clipped her on the temple with the butt of the gun. When she awoke again, she was in a darkened room and tied to a chair - some sort of cloth shoved into her mouth and taped over. She fought, wrenched, and tried to scream.

There was no torture, only instructions to follow if she wanted to live and not meet the same fate her father did. He was their money man, scraping off the top for them. Only he scraped too much to invest in his family, and they’d found out quite quickly. He had to die, they explained, because no one cheats the boss. Only now, they needed a replacement. A life for a life.

She was to go about pretending that she hadn’t seen the killer, and that she didn’t know the truth of his death. Her mother was to believe that it was suicide, and they were meant to grieve. On weekends, she would go to a disclosed location, pick up a package, and deliver it to another location. Aria was terrified, but she wanted nothing more than to live.

It started with the deliveries while she was in college. By her second year of university, she had started to get paid by the unknown organization, and by the time she graduated - she had been taken under the wing of an older woman, her wife, and their adopted son. Estranged from her mother, the Stephens were her new family. Or as much as she could call them that.

After graduation, she was offered a chance at a promotion - an apprenticeship of sorts. Aria knows now that it was just another way for them to scare her into obedience - but she was taken to the scene of a recent crime, handed a bucket, gloves, and a scrub and told to get to work.

Years later, the cleaning is the only thing that soothes her mind and erases the memory of her father’s corpse in her living room. As she scrubs, disinfects, dismembers bodies, and pockets loose change, there’s a sort of fucked up solace in doing something - being a part of something.

[gonzalo-obes]

IMAGENES Y DATOS INTERESANTES DEL 18 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024

Día Internacional de la Igualdad Salarial, Día Mundial de la Quiropraxia, Día Mundial de la Ética Médica, Día Mundial del Control de la Calidad del Agua, Día Mundial del Bambú, Día Mundial del Síndrome de Pitt-Hopkins, Semana Europea de la Movilidad, Semana del Bienestar en las Américas, Año Internacional de los Camélidos.

Santa Ricarda, San José de Cupertino y San Ferréolo.

Tal día como hoy en el año 2014

Se celebra un referéndum en Escocia (Reino Unido), para ver si se independiza o permanece en el Reino Unido, en el que los sondeos han mostrado un empate entre las dos opciones. En la madrugada siguiente, al irse completando el escrutinio, la opción contraria a la secesión, el NO, se irá imponiendo poco a poco hasta lograr un 55,4 % de los votos frente al 44,6 % del SÍ. (Hace 10 años)

1931

Con el pretexto de una explosión en la línea férrea, Japón invade Manchuria (China), zona rica en minerales y abundantes materias primas, declarándola, en febrero de 1932, como nación independiente con el nombre de Manchukuo y estableciendo un régimen títere para que sea gobernada conforme a los intereses imperialistas de Japón. (Hace 93 años)

1898

Tiene lugar el conocido como "incidente de Fashoda", un enfrentamiento entre las fuerzas imperialistas británicas y francesas en África, provocado por la ocupación de un pequeño puesto avanzado en Fashoda (Sudán) por los franceses. En este día, el general británico Horatio Herbert Kitchener llega a Fashoda para hacer frente a las tropas francesas comandadas por Jean Baptiste Marchand, y le informa que ha penetrado en esa zona sin autorización y por tanto sin ningún derecho que le respalde, por lo que su actuación es considerada como una acción de guerra contra el Imperio Británico. Francia, que se halla aislada diplomáticamente en Europa, decide retirar sus fuerzas. En el acuerdo anglo-francés que se firmará en marzo de 1899, Francia renunciará a cualquier reclamación. Por su parte, en enero de 1899, Egipto y Gran Bretaña acordarán un tratado de soberanía compartida en todo el valle del río Nilo, que confirmará la hegemonía británica sobre esa región africana. (Hace 126 años)

1868

El descontento que desde hace tiempo se vive en España contra el régimen monárquico de Isabel II, hace que las fuerzas navales con base en Cádiz, al mando de Juan Bautista Topete, se amotinen contra el gobierno de Isabel II. El pronunciamiento ocurre en el mismo lugar donde el general Riego se levantó en armas contra su padre Fernando VII, cincuenta años antes. La proclama de los generales sublevados en Cádiz está firmada por Juan Prim, Domingo Dulce, Francisco Serrano, Ramón Nouvillas, Rafael Primo de Rivera, Antonio Caballero de Rodas y Juan Topete. (Hace 156 años)

1865

En Portugal se inaugura la Exposición Universal de Oporto a la que asisten más de 3.000 expositores, la gran mayoría de ellos portugueses. (Hace 159 años)

1851

En Nueva York (EE.UU.) se edita el primer número del periódico "The New York Daily Times". Aunque se declara independiente, su línea editorial refleja claramente el considerable apoyo que recibe de los republicanos. En 1857 pasará a llamarse "The New York Times". (Hace 173 años)

1810

En Santiago de Chile se constituye una Junta de gobierno independiente, que a pesar de reconocer la soberanía del rey español Fernando VII, da un primer paso para su emancipación política y territorial. El propósito de esta Junta es cuidar y mantener la colonia de Chile al tiempo que José Bonaparte usurpa el trono español. (Hace 214 años)

1793

En Washington D.C. (EE.UU.) el Presidente George Washington coloca la primera piedra del edificio del Capitolio. (Hace 231 años)

1635

En la Guerra de los Treinta Años, comienza la cuarta fase, denominada periodo francés, y la más cruel de todas, cuando el emperador Fernando II de Habsburgo declara la guerra a Francia, que temerosa de los Habsburgo, se alia con Suecia. (Hace 389 años)

324

En la Batalla de Crisópolis (actual Uskudar, Turquía) se produce el encuentro final entre Constantino el Grande y Licinio, que resulta derrotado y capturado, estableciendo el control exclusivo de Constantino sobre el Imperio Romano. (Hace 1700 años)