#Fred Olsen

[grantourtuga]

Ferry tales

We've made it to the Canaries, but the ride was a bit bumpy due to the storm West of Portugal at the time. The one of us descendent from fishermen and -women had no problem whatsoever, the one descendent of inland people needed a while to adapt.

MD: I tried to eat fresh ginger first, supposedly this should help, but as soon as we were out of the port and the bigger waves hit it was obvious that this was futile. Thanks to some expired motion sickness pills I got my sea legs back after a bit. There was a schedule for the meals, for visiting your pet, and even for visiting your car, not joking! Time was going slow but that was also freeing not having to do anything because everything was taken care of. So hanging around on deck in the sun, watching the sea and the other passengers, listening to podcasts, reading a book, and well, just slacking, drinking coffee, dreaming. And at the end of the day the ship rocked you to sleep and I actually miss that now.

MV: I saw dolphins & seabirds, want to become a captain now and my name shall be Marcoleen Polo.

[demon-of-lemons]

Saw that the color wheel challenge was going around and thought I'd give it a try, I drew one character each day over the course of 8, took me 20 hours in total. Some of these characters barely count but I just wanted an excuse to draw em-

[nerds-yearbook]

Mongul and Warworld were introduced in the anthology comic DC Comics Presents 27#, with a cover date of November 1980. They were introduced by Len Wein and Jim Starlin. ("The Key that Unlocks Chaos", "Whatever Happened to Congorilla?", DC Comics Presents 27#, DC Comic Event)

[browsethestacks]

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen

Art by...

1) Curt Swan And George Klein

2) Mike McKone

3) Michel Fiffe

4) Doc Shaner

5) Fred Hembeck

6) Chris Giarrusso

7) Phil Noto

8) Jack Larson

9) Steve Rude

10) Brian Bolland

[orange-s-mario]

jimmy olsen and his 3 dads

supergirl and her 2 sets of parents

superman and his parents

[wornoutspines]

What If Season 2 Review | A Multiverse Madness, New Genres, Epic Team-Ups, and Emotional Mythologies!

Brace yourself #WhatIfSeason2 is packed with emotion, epic mythology, and unexpected team-ups, it goes beyond character swaps, delivering jaw-dropping action and genre-blending extremes. #WhatIf #MCU #WhatIfS2

The Marvel animated show that explores the many ramifications of one or two changes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe might do these stories we know is back for a second season with bigger, artsier, and crazier alternatives. The amount of MCU stars back voicing their character seemed bigger than last season, Hayley Atwell, Jeffrey Wright, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, Taika Waititi, Benedict…

[camyfilms]

WANDAVISION 2021

But what is grief, if not love persevering?

[chrisframeofficial]

Villa Vie Odyssey finally sets sail!

The Villa Vie Odyssey has finally set sail, several months late - on a three year round the world cruise!

A small ship, the vessel used to cruise as Braemar for Fred Olsen Cruises and dates back to 1993 when it was built for Crown Cruise Line as Crown Dynasty.

Come aboard and learn what it will be like to cruise on Villa Via Residences' new ship.

[kreuzfahrttester]

Fred Olsen Cruise Line trennt sich von der "Braemer"

Fred Olsen Cruise Line trennt sich von der “Braemer”

MS Braemer Verkauf! Der Grund: Einfach zu klein! Fred Olsen macht den gleichen Fehler wie alle anderen auch. Die “Braemer” wird aussortiert, weil sie offiziell zu klein ist. Die “Braemer” bietet Platz für 977 Passagiere. Das 1993 gebaute Schiff wird bis zum Verkauf an einen neuen Eigner aufgelegt. Die Crew wird auch die anderen Olsen Schiffe verteilt. Intern wird es viele weitere Gründe geben…

[ultraericthered]

Favorite Takes - DC

Where I cite my personal favorite non-source material (so film, TV, and video games only) adaptations of some comic book characters.

Clark Kent/Superman

Superman The Movie & Sequels (Christopher Reeve)

All Star Superman (James Denton)

DC Animated Universe (Tim Daly, George Newbern)

My Adventures With Superman (Jack Quaid)

CW DC Universe (Tyler Hoechlin, Brandon Routh)

NOTE: I was never the biggest fan of Dean Cain from Lois & Clark so he couldn't get on here, Tom Welling from Smallville might've been a contender had his character and story not got so bastardized, and the less said of poor Henry Cavill from the DCEU, the better.

Lois Lane

DC Animated Universe (Dana Delany)

All Star Superman (Christina Hendricks)

Superman The Movie & Sequels (Margot Kidder)

TV Versions (Terri Hatcher, Erica Durance, and Elizabeth Tulloch)

My Adventures With Superman (Alice Lee)

Lex Luthor

DC Animated Universe (Clancy Brown)

All Star Superman (Anthony LePaglia)

Smallville (Michael Rosenbaum)

CW DC Universe (Jon Cryer, Michael Cudlitz)

DC DTV Universe(s) (James Marsters, Jason Isaacs)

JLA (James Woods) & Young Justice (Mark Rolston)

NOTE: The last two get a split spot since one of them's got the voice of an evil political fascist while the other got his character mangled in later seasons to be a bad parallel to an evil political fascist. I also like the Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Stan Jones, Travis Willingham, Fred Tatasciore, Steve Blum, Ranin Wilson, Giancarlo Esposito, Zachary Quinto, Darin De Paul, Lance Reddick, Marc Maron, and Max Mittelman versions of Lex, and await to see Nicholas Hoult's.

Jimmy Olsen

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Alexander Polinsky)

DC Animated Universe (David Kaufman)

My Adventures With Superman (Ishmael Sahid)

Superman Returns (Sam Huntington)

All Star Superman (Matthew Gray Gubler)

Supergirl

DC Animated Universe (Nicolle Tom)

DC Superhero Girls (Anais Fairweather)

My Adventures With Superman (Kiana Madeira)

CW DC Universe (Melissa Benoist)

Supergirl '84 Film (Helen Slater)

Brainiac

DC Animated Universe (Corey Burton)

My Adventures With Superman (Michael Emerson)

Injustice Series (Jeffrey Combs)

Superman Unbound (John Noble)

TV Versions (James Marsters and Blake Ritson)

Bruce Wayne/Batman

DC Animated Universe (Kevin Conroy)

Under The Red Hood & Young Justice (Bruce Greenwood)

The Batman Trilogy (Robert Pattinson)

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Christian Bale)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Diedrich Bader)

Batman '66 (Adam West)

NOTE: I really wanted David Mazouz from Gotham on here, but he had to compete with these other Bruces who were actually full time Batmen, so consider him an honorable mention. I also like Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and Ben Affleck as Batman, but there were some problems with their particular iterations. Other runner ups include the other Kevin Conroy Batmen (particularly Arkham and Injustice), Rino Romano, Jeremy Sisto, Daran Norris, Anthony Ruivivar, Ben McKenzie, Jason O'Mara, Troy Baker, Peter Weller, Jensen Anckles, Keanu Reeves, Ethan Hawke, and of course the LEGO Batman(s).

Alfred Pennyworth

Burton-Shumacher Films (Michael Gough)

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Michael Caine)

DC Animated Universe (Clive Revill, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.)

The Batman (Alastair Duncan)

Arkham Series (Martin Jarvis)

Gotham (Sean Pertwee) and The Batman Trilogy (Andy Serkis)

NOTE: Other great Alfreds include James Garrett, Brian George, JB Blanc, David McCallum, Enn Reitel, Anthony Head, Ralph Fiennes, Nolan North, Tom Hollander, Jason Watkins, and Jeremy Irons.

James Gordon

DC Animated Universe (Bob Hastings)

Batman Year One (Bryan Cranston)

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Gary Oldman)

The Batman Trilogy (Jeffrey Wright)

Beware The Batman (Kurtwood Smith)

Batman '66 (Neil Hamilton, Jim Ward)

Barbara Gordon

DC Animated Universe (Melissa Gilbert, Mary Kay Bergman, Tara Strong)

Arkham Series & Injustice Series (Kimberly Brooks)

The Batman (Danielle Judovits)

Young Justice (Alyson Stoner)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Mae Whitman)

Batman: Caped Crusader (Krystal Joy Brown)

Dick Grayson/Robin

Teen Titans (Scott Menville)

Young Justice (Jesse McCartney)

Batman '66 (Burt Ward)

The Batman (Evan Sabara)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Crawford Wilson, Jeremy Shada)

Arkham Series (Josh Keaton)

Dick Grayson/Nightwing

Teen Titans (Scott Menville)

Young Justice (Jesse McCartney)

DC Animated Universe (Loren Lester)

Under The Red Hood (Neil Patrick Harris)

Arkham Series and Injustice Series (Troy Baker)

DC DTV Universe (Sean Maher)

The Joker

DC Animated Universe (Mark Hamill)

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Heath Ledger)

Burton-Shumacher Films (Jack Nicholson)

Joker 2019 (Joaquin Phoenix)

Under The Red Hood (John DiMaggio)

Gotham (Cameron Monaghan)

NOTE: Other great Jokers include Mark Hamill and Troy Baker as Arkham series Joker, Mark Hamill in JLA, Troy Baker in Batman Unlimited and some of the newer DTVs, Caesar Romero in Batman '66, Michael Emerson in The Dark Knight Returns, Kevin Michael Richardson in The Batman, Jeff Bennett in Batman: The Brave & The Bold, Richard Epcar in Mortal Kombat and Injustice, John Kassir in Superfriends 2010, Alan Tudyk in Harley Quinn, Tony Hale in Batman Ninja, Barry Keogan in The Batman Trilogy, and the LEGO Joker(s).

The Penguin

Batman '66 (Burgess Meredith, William Salyers)

Gotham (Robin Lord Taylor)

The Batman Trilogy (Colin Farrell)

Arkham Series (Nolan North, Ian Redford)

DC Animated Universe (Paul Williams, David Odgen Stiers)

The Batman (Tom Kenny)

NOTE: I like the Stephen Root, David Jennison, Dana Snyder, and Wayne Knight Penguins as well, but they're not quite good enough to crack this. Mad respect to Danny DeVito too, but his Penguin sucks.

The Riddler

Batman '66 (Frank Gorshin*, Wally Wingert)

Gotham (Cory Michael Smith)

The Batman Trilogy (Paul Dano)

The Batman (Robert Englund)

DC Animated Universe (John Glover)

Arkham Series (Wally Wingert, Matthew Gray Gubler)

NOTE: Sorry Jim Carrey, you couldn't quite make the cut! Also in the running: Shannon McCormick, John Michael Higgins, Rob Paulsen, Weird Al Yankovic, Jim Rash, Brent Spiner, and Geoffrey Arrend.

*I refuse to credit John Astin's one appearance. That didn't happen!

Selina Kyle/Catwoman

Arkham Series (Grey Griffin, Chantelle Barry)

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Anne Hathaway)

Burton-Shumacher Films (Michele Pteifer)

Gotham (Camren Bicondova)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Nika Futterman)

The Batman (Gina Gershon)

NOTE: Wish DCAU Selina could've made it since Adrienne Barbeau has easily the best voice for the character, but the writing and artwork let her down too often. Other good Catwomen include Julie Newmar, Ertha Kitt, Patty Matson, Jaynse Jaud, Eliza Dushku, Stephanie Sheh, Laura Bailey, Cree Summer, Jennifer Morrison, Naya Rivera, Liz Gilles, Gina Rodriguez, Christina Ricci, and Zoe Kravitz.

Two-Face

DC Animated Universe (Richard Moll)

Arkham Series (Troy Baker)

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Aaron Eckhard)

Batman '66 (William Shatner)

Batman: Caped Crusader (Diedrich Bader)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (James Remar)

NOTE: Apologies to Billy Dee Williams, who would've done great, and Tommy Lee Jones, who could've done great (but definitely didn't). Also in the running but their coins landed on tails: Travis Willingham, Matthew Mercer, Robert Picardo, Petter Jessop, Dave Boat, Keith Ferguson, Gary Cole, Andrew Daly, and Josh Duhamel.

Mr. Freeze

DC Animated Universe (Michael Ansara)

Arkham Series (Maurice LeMarche)

Young Justice (Keith Szarabajka)

Batman '66 (George Sanders, Otto Preminger, Eli Wallach)

Gotham (Nathan Darrow)

Burton-Shumacher Films (Arnold Schwarzenegger)

NOTE: Other noteworthy Freezes who got frozen out of making it include Clancy Brown, Eric Bauza, Robert Kraft, Oded Fehr, Peter Stromare, Jim Pirri, and Matthew Mercer.

Poison Ivy

Arkham Series (Taisa Valenza, Amy J. Carle, Darcy Rose Byrnes)

DC Animated Universe (Dianne Pershing)

The Batman (Pierra Coppola)

Harley Quinn (Lake Bell)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Vanessa Marshall)

Gotham (Peyton List, Clare Foley, Maggie Geha)

NOTE: Uma Thurman, Laure Bailey, Fryda Wolff, Natasha Leggero, Paget Brewster, Peyton List II, Cristina Milizia, and Katee Sackhoff are all fun Poison Ivys as well.

Harley Quinn

DC Animated Universe (Arleen Sorkin)

Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco)

The Batman (Hynden Walch)

DCEU (Margot Robbie) and Suicide Squad ISEKAI (Karlii Hoch)

Arkham Series (Arleen Sorkin, Tara Strong)

Batman: Caped Crusader (Jamie Chung)

NOTE: Meghan Strange in Batman: The Brave & The Bold, Jenny Slate in The LEGO Batman Movie, Laura Post in the Telltale games, and Melissa Rauch in Batman and Harley Quinn are also great, and I've no doubt Lady Gaga could've really rocked it too but....yeah.

Ra's Al Ghul

DC Animated Universe (David Warner)

Gotham (Alexander Sidigg)

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Liam Neeson)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Peter Woodward)

Young Justice (Oded Fehr)

Arkham Series (Dee Bradley Baker)

NOTE: Also among the great Ra's Al Ghuls are Jason Isaacs, Lance Reddick, Giancarlo Esposito & TC Carson, JB Blanc, and Cas Anvar.

Bane

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Tom Hardy)

Arkham Series (JB Blanc, Fred Tatasciore)

Young Justice (Danny Trejo, Eric Lopez)

DC Animated Universe (Henry Silva, Hector Elizondo)

The Batman (Joaquim de Almelda, Ron Perlman)

Harley Quinn (James Adomian)

Scarecrow

Arkham Series (Dino Andrade, John Noble)

DC Animated Universe (Henry Polic II, Jeffrey Combs)

The Dark Knight Trilogy (Cillian Murphy)

Injustice Series (Robert Englund)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Dee Bradley Baker)

Batman Unlimited (Brian T. Delaney)

Killer Croc

Arkham Series (Steve Blum, Khary Payton)

The Batman (Ron Perlman)

Beware The Batman (Wade Williams)

DC Animated Universe (Aaron Kincaid, Brooks Gardner)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Stephin Root)

Batman Unlimited (John DiMaggio)

Clayface

The Batman (Steve Harris, Wallace Langham)

Arkham Series (Rick D. Wasserman)

Batman: Caped Crusader (Dan Donohue)

DC Animated Universe (Ron Perlman)

Harley Quinn (Alan Tudyck)

Batman Unlimited (Dave B. Mitchell)

Professor Hugo Strange

Arkham Series (Corey Burton)

Gotham (BD Wong)

The Batman (Frank Gorshin, Richard Green)

Strange Days Short (Brian George)

Batman '66 (Jim Ward)

DC Animated Universe (Ray Buktenica)

NOTE: William Salyers in Gotham By Gaslight is fine as well but his part is too secondary. Young Justice Strange is the only one I dislike.

Diana Prince/Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman DTV (Keri Russell)

Wonder Woman '76 (Lynda Carter)

DCEU (Gal Gadot)

Young Justice (Maggie Q)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Vicki Lewis)

DTV Universe (Grey Griffin, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson)

JLA (Rachel Kimsey)

NOTE: Really wish a Susan Eisenberg Wonder Woman could've landed here, but both of her most major iterations had some issues.

Slade Wilson/Deathstroke

Teen Titans (Ron Perlman)

CW DC Universe (Manu Bennett, Michael Chiklis, Esai Morales)

DTV Universe (Thomas Gibson, Miguel Ferrer)

Injustice Series (JG Hertzler)

Arkham Series (Mark Rolston)

Tara "Terra" Markov

Teen Titans (Ashley Johnson)

Teen Titans GO! (Ashley Johnson)

DTV Universe (Cristina Ricci)

LEGO DC (Laura Bailey)

Young Justice (Tara Strong)

Darkseid

DC Animated Universe (Michael Ironside, Kevin Michael Richardson)

Justice League Heroes (David Sobolov)

Batman: The Brave & The Bold (Michael Leon Wooley)

Injustice Series (Michael Leon Wooley)

DTV Universe(s) (Andre Baugher, Bruce Thomas, Tony Todd)

JLA (Johnathan Adams)

NOTE: I discount Steve Blum from the DTV Universe(s) 'cause what the fuck was that, and Ray Porter in the DCEU was tragically ill-fated.

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for August 29, 2015; #92.

Gingerlys “Summer Cramps”

Day Wave “Drag”

Bleached “You Take Time”

Wolf Diamond “Catatonia”

Secret Life Of Sofia, The “Moon On The Sea’s Gate”

Alex Calder “Lola?

Shiva Affect “Caught In Amber”

Mojave 3 “Where Is The Love?”

Mount Eerie ft. Julie Doiron & Fred Squire “Lost Wisdom”

Sun Kill Moon “Ocean Breathes Salty”

White Heaven “Fallin’ Stars End”

Angel Olsen “Unfucktheworld”

Shins, The “Weird Divide”

Enablers “Career-Minded Individual”

Mike Longo “Souvenir”

Mount Eerie “Yawning Sky”

Catching Flies “Quiet Nights”

Ida “Don’t Get Sad”

Treasure Fleet “The Mushroom Hunt”

Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band “Breezy”

Elliott Smith “Twilight”

Joan Shelley “Over And Even”

Deluxe easy-going indie.

[superman86to99]

Action Comics #699 (May 1994)

"THE BATTLE FOR METROPOLIS" STARTS HERE! Well, not here here, since most of the issue is actually just the setup for the battle itself, but this still counts as the first part of the storyline that will reshape the City of Tomorrow forever (in comic book terms, so "for a few months").

We start with Lex Luthor Jr. being interviewed on a panel-style TV show that conveniently recaps all the relevant plot points: Lex Jr. is at war with Project Cadmus because he blames them for the virus that's killing all the clones in Metropolis (including Lex Jr. himself, because he's actually Lex Sr. in a clone body). The Underworld clones living in Metropolis' sewers also blame Cadmus for their malaise and have been voicing their displeasure by breaking Cadmus shit all over the city, using big '90s-type weapons Lex secretly provided.

During the interview, Lex points out that Metropolis' so-called protector hasn't been terribly helpful during the current crisis, but that's because Superman's been occupied dealing with his power issues -- as in, his superpowers going out of whack, not that his landlord cut off his electricity or something. Fortunately, Superman managed to get rid of his excess powers last issue by just letting the Parasite absorb them (which turned the Parasite into a big-ass monster, but that's a problem for another storyline).

After recovering from his fight with the (now-missing) Parasite and confirming with Professor Hamilton that his powers are completely back to normal, Superman catches up with Lois Lane, who recently lost her job due to Lex's h4xx0r skillz. Talking to Lois, Superman finally learns the shocking truth about Lex Luthor Jr. = Lex Luthor Sr., and he also finally connects the dots between the clones of Metropolis getting sick and Lex suddenly looking old and frail.

When Superman goes to confront Lex, he sees that a kinkily dressed-Supergirl is about to kill him and has to stop her (see the Supergirl miniseries for more details on how the heck that happened).

Once Supergirl leaves, Superman goes after her, apparently forgetting what he came to LexCorp for (or deciding to give poor Lex a break, given his frail state). Lex's faithful medical team, Drs. Kelley and Packard, end up putting him in a "hyperbaric chamber"/big healing tube and chopper him to his private yacht so he can recover.

Meanwhile, the city is being evacuated and things are tense between the various groups that are supposed to protect it. A fight is about to break out between members of Team Luthor, the Special Crimes Unit, and Project Cadmus, when some nasty Underworlders suddenly emerge from the ground and attack the Cadmus guys. Superman drops by to reason with the Underworlders, and they actually seem to be listening to him... until Lex, from the safety of his yacht, remotely fires one of those sci-fi guns he gave the Underworlders, and all hell breaks loose. OK, now we can say the battle has started. TO BE CONTINUED!

Plotline-Watch:

We get an appearance from Jimmy Olsen's mom AND Bibbo in the same page?! Oh boy. Unfortunately, Jimmy himself appears too (along with Ron Troupe, both riding Bibbo's bike straight into the danger zone). Interesting that Jimmy has an Uncle Fred and Aunt Lynn in the city, yet he still ended up living in his car for a while. Is there a a deleted scene where he asked if he could crash with them and they just laughed for ten minutes?

Lex publicly blames Cadmus for destroying his private homes all over the world, but those who read the Supergirl mini know that was actually S-Girl subtly letting him know she's breaking up with him. Incidentally, in Supergirl #4, she actually throws Lex through his office's window and Superman rescues him, but in this issue, Superman arrives before she can throw him. Continuity error... or an anomaly caused by a certain time crisis looming in the horizon?!

When Superman is having his check-up with Professor Hamilton, he notices Hamilton seems distraught -- Hambone claims it's because of the chaos going on in the city, but I think it's clearly because Superman didn't even comment on the fact that he just dyed his hair brown at some point since his last appearance.

What with the city being under martial law and all, Perry White moves the Planet's city room to the newspaper's printing plant on the edge of town, and thinks to himself: "I've endured fires, blackouts, and riots, but I've never been forced to evacuate my own city room... until now." He might be talking about the fires, blackouts, and riots that happened during and around the "Blackout" storyline, when Metropolis was going through a Lex-triggered economic crisis.

Incidentally, Perry also seems to notice for the first time that all of the Planet's computer equipment was made by his biggest enemy's company, so he asks to see a test run of anything that's printed from now on. Don Sparrow says: "Interesting that Perry White, no longer a reporter, is the first to have the notion of checking the presses while investigating the wacky headlines Lois was purportedly creating. Lois and Clark are both intrepid newshounds, and neither of them thought of that? I suppose Clark was busy being enormous at the time."

Mayor Berkowitz, usually a level-headed chap, sides with Luthor and says on TV that Cadmus is intentionally creating all that chaos as revenge for that time he and Lex didn't let them steal Superman's corpse (during "Funeral for a Friend"). Surely this means Lex will finally forgive Berkowitz for having him arrested way back in The Man of Steel #4, right? (Spoilers: haha, no.)

I mentioned in our post about Man of Steel #33 that the nonchalant way in which Lois told Superman about Lex Jr. being a clone kinda bugged me. It was so nonchalant, in fact, that Superman didn't even seem to remember that bit of information in this issue, since he exclaims "What?!" when Lois mentions it again. Or maybe he thinks Lex Jr. being a clone was predictable but it's the part about him having Lex Sr.'s brain that took him by surprise? Either way, I'm actually glad we got a do-over on that moment, even if it still wasn't as dramatic as I would have hoped for.

Patreon-Watch:

This post was published today and not in like three months thanks to the Superman '86 to '99 Patreon gang, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol. You rule!

You know who also rules? Don Sparrow, who has more commentary on this issue after the jump...

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start off with the cover, and it’s a very blocky, Kirby-like pose, of Superman fast-walking into gunfire.  I love the one eye in shadow, which gives the pose an intimidating and mysterious air we’re not used to seeing with Superman.  As always, Guice’s Superman seems to have the longest Tarzan locks (at least until Stuart Immonen joins the team) and that’s true here.

Inside the issue we get extremely '90s guest artwork by Norman Felchle and James Pascoe, and while it’s not my cup of tea, he is remarkably consistent throughout.  Felchle would go on to do storyboard work for Pixar, Netflix, Marvel and others, so hopefully he isn’t sweating the criticism from a never-was like myself! The opening splash page is a good example of the 90’s style “extreme” stylization, as we see a computer-generated Lex Junior with a big old curly tress blocking his eye.

The length of this stylization changes panel to panel.  We get more extreme linework a page later as Perry White’s disapproving expression makes his forehead look like cracking clay. [Max: Are we sure this isn't Darkseid posing as Perry as part of some nefarious plan?] After this argument, we get our first look at Superman himself, and it’s not bad overall—the S-shield is consistent throughout, and his wavy hair is well rendered.  One of the main things that bug me about this art style (apart from when he attempts regular clothing, but we’ll get to that) is that every male character has an identical nose, particularly from the front view.  Once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop seeing it. [Max: Dang, can't unsee it either.]

A few pages later, as Superman trails the Parasite underground, we get an example of Felchle’s penchant for perhaps-unnecessary detail.  Rather than the gritty cement he has at the top of the panel, the Metropolis sewer is drawn to have been made up of European cobblestone, which is both pleasing to look at, and an unlikely building material, especially some 20 feet below the ground.  Felchle does excel at motion—there’s a great image of Superman flying away from Professor Hamilton’s apartment.

It’s followed immediately, however, by the strange physics of Lois Lane dislodging a cathode ray television set with a couch pillow! The following page is the best example in the book of Felchle’s aforementioned weakest point—drawing regular humans in regular human fabric.  Lois’ green sweater clings in such an unnatural and revealing way to her body that it appears to be made of cellophane (there was a similar instance earlier in the book when a beat cop’s uniform appeared to have been painted on, and again in a few pages on poor old silver-haired Sarah Olsen). [Max: To be fair, Byrne did establish early on that Mrs. Olsen is actually pretty young and attractive, but her hair greyed prematurely.] Sadly for the industry, this kind of cheap fan service depiction of women would become the norm rather than the exception in the decade to come, but in this era, it is a real deviation from the naturalistic look we’ve gotten used to. 

A few pages later we get a tiny glimpse into the concurrently running Supergirl mini-series, where Superman talks Supergirl out of taking her vengeance on Lex Jr. too far.  This whole scene is a little blasé for my tastes, as the stuff Supergirl describes (attempted murder, cloning experiments) is as bad or worse than the stuff Lex Jr. has been pulling on Lois.  As Guardian looks for the Underworlders, we get still more of Felchle’s unique brickwork, this time above ground, at least.  Lastly, we get a pretty lean and mean Superman on the final couple of pages as the Underworlder/Cadmus conflict becomes a shooting war.  The three-fingered mutant firing on Superman recalls a couple Byrne panels, starting with flesh-suit Metallo getting (temporarily) blown away by S.W.A.T team members in Superman #1, and also Superman getting shot at by Bloodsport a few issues later in Superman #4. 

STRAY OBSERVATIONS: 

There’s just a ton of stories going on here, perhaps too many to comfortably deal with in a single issue.  We have the abrupt end of the Super-giant storyline (with no sighting of the Parasite that Superman crashed to Earth with), the who-cares war between Cadmus and the Underworlders [Max: I care, Don! I care!!], the Lois-bonkers headline storyline, the Lex-is-dying storyline, and then even a glimpse at Supergirl’s mini-series.  It’s no wonder this issue feels quite long, but also incomplete.

It’s nice to see a little more of the Daily Planet’s operations, but the introduction to plant manager Jeff (no last name) and Jane (no last name) are so quick, and staged so distantly, we really get no sense of them as people. [Max: Jane Stewart, Don! Big fan of Jane Stewart, who appears for all of three panels. I don't know if she ever shows up again, but I'm giving her a tag on the blog anyway.]

Without saying too much, they’re certainly telegraphing who the mole in Lex’s organization is.  Whenever this character appears in this issue they’re either admonishing Lex, or revealing details of Lex’s life to underlings.  The reveal they’re setting up for really doesn’t feel so shocking after all this. [Max: Is it Vekko? I bet it's Vekko.]

[sailing-through-hawkins]

Buckle up Ronance (and general spicy six) fans i wrote this when i was super tired but we got a Superman AU laid out right in front of us ft:

Robin Buckley as the clumsy and rambling reporter starting her new job at the Daily Planet, using her wits, language skills and eager curiosity to scope out a fresh take on Metropolis' pristine coat of futurism hiding its own dark underbelly of corruption and political warfare; not to mention the fact that she is the Superwoman (i usually prefer finding alternatives to using "man" or "woman" in the superhero genre but I can't really think of an alternate to something as basic as Superman so here we are), capable of flight, lazer vision and rescuing pretty woman without so much as a stutter

Nancy Wheeler as the Planet's greatest reporter, her determination and scrutiny all she needs to crack any story wide open, making her quite the target for the rich and famous but she doesn't appreciate this rookie coming in to steal her front-page headline spot; now Superwoman, on the other hand, is the most intriguing person she's ever wanted to investigate right on Metropolis soil

Nancy visits Gotham on occasion to meet her ex-partner and current good friend, Steve "Stevie" Harrington, to catch up during any of his various charity balls or just to give Mike an excuse to hang with Dustin (Steve's first ward, followed by Max, with Lucas and Erica dropping by often enough people don't really think too hard about it)

She does have her suspicions about The Bat running around the shadows of Gotham with Steve's tendency for concussion-inducing accidents but the idea of Steve of all people as a vigilante just feels too far fetched even for her

Of course, Robin does eventually meet Stevie during a story she's chasing on The Bat but the guy is just so airheaded and shameless that she doesn't want to even bother trying to get statement out of him. When she meets The Bat as Superwoman however, they hit it off so well that Robin thinks she may have found a best friend for life. When they eventually reveal their identities, she has to take a minute to reconcile that her platonic soulmate is Stevie Harrington of all people

Jonathan is Nancy's photographer a la Jimmy Olsen, and the dude is just so exhausted all the time from Nancy's running around but he's done a better job keeping up with her than her old partner Fred Benson so Chief insists that they stick together. After Robin showed up, he figured things would be easier with someone else to help wrangle Nancy but Robin just encourages the chaos with her own ambitious methods so he ends up bonding with Stevie of all people over Nancy's head-first running into danger, thank god for Superwoman's timing on that

I also think it'd be funny if Argyle was just a random pizza guy from Gotham who got caught up in a major crime syndicate's grasp and he just...ends up staying at the Harrington Manor after that and nobody in the family even questions it and now he mans the Batcomputer under codename Oracle ("Dustin, you can't just keep giving everything a codename" - "Fucking watch me")

Jargyle meeting at a Harrington charity ball and have a whole doki doki strangers to lovers because they 100% deserve a meet-cute in this AU

Anyways back to Ronance, Nancy falling in love with the snarky and witty Superwoman that always comes when Nancy needs her and Robin panicking because she's realised that she's head over heels for Wheeler and can't do a single thing about it meanwhile Steve teases her about the Wheeler Effect:

"The what?"

"The Wheeler Effect: I used to be in love with Nancy, she and Jonathan used to date, hell even Dustin crushed on her at some point -"

"STEVE YOU PROMISED NOT TO TELL ANYONE -"

I guess Eddie could be The Freak (like the Creeper from the animated series, but less Joker venom and more clothes) in a Catwoman role? Giving Steve a run for his money (sometimes literally) while secretly mentoring the Robins, much to the Bat's annoyance

[moistvonlipwig]

13. Top 5 female characters I wish had better development/writing

For @peachycloudcats. I will do #11 later today or tomorrow. :3

Additionally, I've decided to try my best to avoid repeats of previous female characters I've already used for this ask game, to keep things fresh. Without further ado:

1: Winifred "Fred" Burkle from Angel is one of those characters who I do like but I don't love and the biggest reason for that is that I don't think the writers had any clue what to do with her. It's to Amy Acker's credit that I find her endearing despite falling into some very particular Whedon-y tropes I tend to dislike. But it's telling that when Joss saw Amy Acker play Lady Macbeth and realized she was a much stronger actor than he'd thought, his first thought was not, "Gosh, I better give Fred a meatier storyline!" but rather, "Gosh, I better kill off Fred and give Amy Acker an entirely new character to play!" I think the character was at her best in early S3 and late S4, but a lot of the stuff in between fell kind of flat for me, and she literally does not have an arc in S5 besides Dying Tragically So Men Can Be Sad About It. Unfortunate. :/

2: Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek Discovery, meanwhile, is a character I should like on paper but who in practice often did not work for me. I think the concept of the character was brilliant -- I remember watching the first episode set in Disco's mirror universe and hearing a character refer to 'the Emperor' without mentioning their name and thinking, "Oh, shit, it's gonna be Georgiou, that's gonna be so awesome" -- and I think for the duration of Disco's mirror universe arc she works very well as a character. And I liked the idea of Michael taking her back to the prime universe, I thought there was a lot of potential there. Unfortunately I just don't think the writing was up to snuff. Part of the issue was, I think, a tonal mismatch: Georgiou was cartoonishly evil to a frankly absurd degree that seemed completely out of step with the rest of the show. They also kept giving her cheesy dialogue and unfunny jokes and they seemed reluctant to actually develop her until her send-off episode because they wanted their Comic Relief Evil Character. It's really too bad because Michelle Yeoh is an amazing actress and she was clearly having a blast playing the character, and again, I think the concept of the character is awesome. But I think maybe Disco was just the wrong show to execute that concept.

3: Melissa McCall from Teen Wolf really shined in the early seasons, but as the show went on she increasingly felt less like a loving mother to Scott who had her own problems going on and more like a mouthpiece for the idea that it was Scott's job to put his life and psychological wellbeing on the line in order to save everyone. Also, the fact that she ended up dating Chris Argent, who shoved a gun in her teenage son's face and never apologized, was so bad and was yet another weakening of her characterization.

4: There are so many Arrowverse women I could put here, but the character in that universe who most needed better development & writing is probably Kelly Olsen from Supergirl, who often feels less like a character and more like a vague sketch of a character you saw in a dream once but can't really remember that well. Azie Tesfai did a very good job making the character lovable despite being given absolute scraps to work with, and there are a lot of theoretically interesting things about Kelly, but too often she was reduced to Alex's supportive girlfriend who never caused any problems and never had any difficult or inconvenient emotions. Supergirl's only black female superhero deserved better than that.

5: Heather Davis from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is yet another character the writers clearly had no idea what to do with after a certain point. I think her arc was fine until she graduated and then, like Heather herself, the writers were like ??? what does she do now??? and never came up with a satisfying answer. Given how much she loved being a student, I would think it would make sense for her to go into academia or something, but instead they had her...become a manager of a sports bar, marry Hector (which, uh, no offense to him but why???), and volunteer to be Darryl's surrogate on a whim. (Which, given how interested Crazy Ex-Girlfriend usually was in engaging in feminist discourses, it is actually so baffling to me that the show never even attempted to interrogate the ethics & implications of surrogacy from a feminist perspective, especially given the racial dynamics involved. Like, hello???) Vella Lovell was so fun in the role and I really wish they'd come up with an actually coherent arc for her after her graduation. Oh well. :|

[brckentales]

hey there! this is a multimuse rp blog, that features characters from various fandoms —— ranging from dc, marvel, a song of ice and fire, disney, and more —— with more to come later!

crossover friendly & encouraged. the writer is 18+, and i ask anyone who follows to be an adult as well, as this blog will feature mature and possibly dead dove themes, including heavy adult content, so please bare that in mind.

i'm also completely open to writing on discord, if that's your preference! my pms are very much open whenever, for plotting or chatting or whatever.

also, this pinned post and everything else is mostly temporary. i'll be working on making everything look nicer as i go along!

under the cut, i’ll include a few things, including my muse list, some muses / characters i’m looking for to write opposite with, and a few other details for rp!

my messages are always open, feel free to dm!

WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR

i'm open to most kinda plots and pairings, open to any themes and ideas, we can discuss whatever tbh. i don't have any real limits here.

WHO I PLAY

there’s a more detailed muse list below, but honestly? i can play most any male character tbh, whatever fits the plot or pairing we go for! i can do canons, crossovers, or ocs —— it's all a yes from me! feel free to suggest someone who might not be on the list.

MUSE LIST

again, i’m pretty flexible and can write some characters outside of this, whether canon or oc, so feel free to suggest anything, this is more just for inspiration, tbh.

DC

Heroes / Anti-heroes: Batman / Bruce Wayne, Nightwing / Dick Grayson, Red Robin / Tim Drake, Robin / Damian Wayne, Signal / Duke Thomas, Batman Beyond / Terry McGinnis, Green Lantern / Kyle Rayner, The Flash / Wally West, Impulse / Bart Allen, Green Arrow / Oliver Queen, Green Arrow / Connor Hawke, Arsenal / Roy Harper, Aquaman / Arthur Curry, Aqualad / Kaldurah'm, Superboy / Conner Kent, Superman / Jon Kent, Cyborg / Victor Stone, Booster Gold, Hawkman / Carter Hall, Swamp Thing, Jimmy Olsen

Villains: Deathstroke / Slade Wilson, Deadshot / Floyd Lawton, Black Adam, Vandal Savage, Scarecrow, Flashpoint Batman / Thomas Wayne, Bane, Reverse-Flash / Eobard Thawne, Black Manta, Lobo, The Penguin / Oswald Cobblepot, Joker

MARVEL

Heroes / Anti-heroes: Daredevil / Matt Murdock, Punisher / Frank Castle, Spider-Man / Miles Morales, Spider-Man 2099 / Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man Noir, Cyclops / Scott Summers, Wolverine, Archangel / Warren Worthington, Human Torch / Johnny Storm, Deadpool / Wade Wilson, Luke Cage, Winter Soldier / Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury

Villains: Magneto / Erik Lensherr, Green Goblin / Norman Osborn, Green Goblin / Harry Osborn, Doctor Doom / Victor von Doom, Bullseye, Kingpin / Wilson Fisk

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE

Game of Thrones era: Jaime Lannister, Joffrey Baratheon

House of the Dragon era: Aemond Targaryen, Jacaerys Velaryon, Gwayne Hightower

BEN 10

Ben Tennyson, Kevin Levin, Albedo

AVATAR

Zuko, Mako, Sokka, Ozai

DISNEY

Peter Pan, Kuzco, Phineas Flyn, Olaf, Claude Frollo, Captain Hook, Dash Parr, Alfredo Linguini, Horst (Ratatouille)

MISC. ANIMATION

Numbuh Four (KND), Fred Jones (Scooby-Doo), Roger Rabbit, Daffy Duck, Wirt (Over the Garden Wall), Alejandro (Total Drama)

VIDEO GAMES

Genji (Overwatch), Javier Escuella (Red Dead Redemption)

WHO I’M LOOKING FOR

now here's the main gist of of what i'm looking for! if you can play any of the following characters, i would absolutely love it!

DC

Cheshire / Jade Nguyen, Artemis Crock (from Young Justice), Yara Flor, Lois Lane, Donna Troy, Wonder Woman, Talia al Ghul, Black Canary / Dinah Lance, Zatanna, Ravager / Rose Wilson, Huntress / Helena Bertinelli, Jessica Cruz / Green Lantern, Poison Ivy, Star Sapphire / Carol Ferris, Punchline, Supergirl, Spoiler, Lian Harper, Catwoman / Selina Kyle (Comics or Zoe Kravitz), Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, Dawn Granger (Titans TV), Starfire, Lilith Clay, Hawkgirl, Lady Shiva, Mera, Sofia Falcone (Reevesverse), some Arrowverse girls (Iris West, Sara Lance, Thea Queen, Laurel Lance)

MARVEL

Elektra Natchios, Psylocke, Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Rogue, Kate Bishop, Lorna Dane, Susan Storm, Sersi, Felicia Hardy, Gwen Stacy / Spider-Gwen, Wanda, Laura Kinney, Black Widow, Wanda Maximoff, Danvers (MCU), Mary Jane Watson, Hope van Dyne (MCU), Claire Temple (MCU), Agatha Harkness (MCU), Gamora

OVERWATCH

Ashe or Kiriko

FINAL FANTASY 7

Tifa Lockhart, Aerith Gainsborough, Jessie Rasberry

RED DEAD REDEMPTION

Abigail Roberts, Sadie Adler, Mary-Beth Gaskill

STAR WARS

Leia or Rey

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE (GAME OF THRONES / HOUSE OF THE DRAGON)

Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister, Margaery Tyrell, Melisandre, Alicent Hightower, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Helaena Targaryen, Visenya I Targaryen, Alys Rivers

AVATAR

Azula, Suki

DISNEY

Kim Possible or Shego, Colette (Ratatouille), Cinderella (Disney), Jasmine, Tinker Bell, Elsa, Rapunzel

DISNEY / NICK SITCOMS

Teddy Duncan (Good Luck, Charlie), Alex Russo (Wizards), Carly Shay (iCarly), Tori / Trina / Jade (Victorious), Sharpay Evans / Gabriella Montez (High School Musical)

TOTAL DRAMA

Heather, Gwen, Courtney

LIFE IS STRANGE

Max Caulfield, Chloe Price, Juliet Watson, Dana Ward, Kate Marsh, Loretta Rice

BEN 10

Gwen Tennyson (Alien Force version or older only), Ester, Charmcaster

MISC. ANIMATION / GAMING

Daphne Blake (Scooby-Doo), Ellie Williams (The Last of Us), Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)

MISC. LIVE ACTION

Starlight / Annie January (The Boys), Betty Cooper (Riverdale), Yennefer of Vengerberg (The Witcher show)

CELEBRITIES

Margot Robbie, Megan Fox, Gemma Chan, Madison Beer, Anne Hathaway, Anya Chalotra, Victoria Pedretti, Jessica Chastain, Emeraude Taubia, Jenna Dewan, Candice Patton, Sydney Sweeney, Alice Eve, Caity Lotz, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Olivia Wilde, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Conor Leslie, Minka Kelly, Alejandra Guilmant, Kennedy Walsh, Olivia Rodrigo, Hailey Bieber, Doja Cat, Hailee Steinfeld, Dakota Johnson, Corinna Kopf, Florence Pugh, Lili Reinhart, Ariana Grande, Scarlet Johansson, Bridget Mendler, Madelyn Cline, Sabrina Carpenter, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jenna Ortega, Olivia Cooke, Zoe Kravitz

[helyiios]

📚 book

answered before but mostly Afdeling Q by Jussi Adler Olsen! I also like books by Fred Vargas :)