#I grew up reading the comics in 2016

[chaotic15]

Moon Girl Magic

[themyscirah]

Finally read Wonder Woman Historia because of your posts about it and damn. goddamn. that was fucking life-changing. literally what the fuck this should be a required read for every single comic book fan to ever exist. fuck

YES OMG THATS WHAT IM SAYINGGGGGGGGGG

(Also yesss got one mwahahaha I'm literally so glad you read it because of me omg 🤗🫶)

No but truly like life-changing sounds intense but is honestly the word for it. Like at least personally I can't emphasize the impact that book has had on me? I first read it about a year ago and finished it just SOBBING. I wasn't even a Wonder Woman fan before reading it. I wasn't even a Wonder Woman fan before reading it. Like do you understand I now run a Wonder Woman blog, I own multiple WW articles of clothing and my entire wall is covered in WW issues and items. If I had to list my top 5 books (not comics, books) of all time Wonder Woman: Historia would be an automatic contender. I reread it constantly, and bring my giant ass hardcover that is too tall for every bookshelf everywhere. It is constantly on my mind.

Anyways just sooooooo so glad you got a chance to read it (especially because of me!!!) because Historia is truly my favorite comic out there and I think it's one of the best things from the medium as a whole : )

Anyways all you folks listening this is you sign to READ WONDER WOMAN: HISTORIA!!!

[celaenaeiln]

The bimbofication of Dick Grayson is sad but I also feel like a lot of it has to do with his place in the batfamily and fitting a certain role which is different from his role as part of the Titans fam. Like there is a reason he gets killed off in a lot of Batfam stories and or he takes up the role as Batman despite wanting to make a name for himself as Nightwing. I’m not a huge Dick Grayson fan but that’s because my introduction to him was through the Batfamily and he was always portrayed rather silly or kind of the butt of the joke to Barbara Gordon’s know-it-all-ness (I love her but that’s how it feels) , but then I would read his interactions with the Titans and I actually became more invested in his character even if the writing is a bit outdated.

This goes for his relationships too, he used to be portrayed as a one woman man but then Dixon got a hold of him and suddenly the tiring trope of guy is a bit of a playboy except for that one girl who is the love of his life took hold and it hasn’t left since. I miss the Dick who meet this out of this world (literally) woman and who grew to love each other and watching him grow into a man who learned to love in a passionate way and who learned that people were different from him.

Even a lot of his newer relationships have a lot of depth (like with Bea Bennet or Shawn) but then they get axed. Taylor isn’t really writing anything that hasn’t been written before, like Rebirth Dick wasn’t that great and Rebirth DickBabs was childish and Dixon had some takes on Dick but Taylor has really has highlighted a lot of that bad writing and It’s crazy that it’s becoming the most popular iteration of Dick Grayson and even Barbara Gordon.

og post in reference

Absolutely!

There was the comic thing DC released during an event with all the heroes talking to the reader like they were in the Office, and Dick's was, "I'm the nice, funny one."

Now that's funny because Roy literally refers to him as uptight. The statement is true but it's a lie by omission. It doesn't take into account his craziness, his leadership, his dedication, his intelligence, his prowess, his good-standing - nothing! "Nice, funny one." I think Ra's would've run a sword through the writer's heart at that, given that he was easily defeated by the "nice, funny one."

Aside from that I can't really speak to the dumbification of Dick in Batfamily comics because I think most of them have done a good job but I used to see it a lot in fandom. It's much less now but five years ago, there was so much fandom content about incompetent himbo Grayson and some writers genuinely meant it too. Which I don't understand because nowhere in the Nightwing comics is Dick ever written as being dumb. The Batman comics (1940) and (2016) also do a fantastic job of writing him. His fighting ability, his emotional intelligence, his IQ, all of it is there and off the charts!

I guess the main thing with Dick's role in the batfamily is he's seen as an authority figure. He's Batman's second in command and seen that way by both Bruce and the rest of the family. So if some major disaster were to occur, he would need to be killed off because he's both of exceedingly high emotional value to Bruce or because he's going to be the next person in charge and god forbid that happens because the apocalypse would end then.

I mean, the villains made the mistake of leaving him alive in Convergence and he literally reset the universe back to how it's supposed to be.

So there's no way they can leave him alive because of that. Also his death fuels Batman to end whatever crisis the world is facing so that's an important plot event.

But the Barbara Gordon arm candy.

I am certain. That the idea of Dick being stupid comes from him being with Barbara Gordon. No where in the Nightwing comics, Batman comics (both!), Red Robin comics, Robin comics, Titans comics, Justice League comics, and other DC comics is Dick ever written to be stupid EXCEPT when he's written with Barbara.

Take this nightwing panel for instance

Nightwing (2011) Issue #27

or this

Nightwing (1996) Issue #42

and then take this

Convergence: Nightwing/Oracle Issue #1

AKA: I'm smart. You're dumb. Now shut up and leave because you're too stupid to understand.

The arrogance. This is the same shit Bruce would pull except when Dick asks, Bruce actually tells him.

Justice Leagues: Justice League of Atlantis

Barbara in the Nightwing comics isn't the best but at least it tracks with her own personality in her own comics and the Batman and Bird of Prey ones. The best Barbara Gordon depictions I've seen are through Cass and Stephanie's Batgirl comics funnily, but the Barbara Gordon Batgirl comics have the worst treatment I've seen of Dick in all of DC.

This is where I think the idea Dick is dumb orginates because it's definitely not coming from Tim or the Titans or Batman. It also makes sense if that's the case since Dickbabs is such a huge thing in this fandom.

I miss when Dick would just be with Kori through everything. They were so in love! I genuinely believe they could have worked out their problems or at least gotten back together but DC will never let that happen for logical reasons. If Dick marries Kori, he's going to end up spending all his time with the Titans which would be bad for the rest of the family because they need him when they have problems or just to hang out. It's a lot more convenient for them to have Tim hang out with Dick and Barbara if they were dating than him hanging out with Dick and Kori. Which is the biggest reason why Batfamily writers want to keep the romance within the family.

I will never accept the cheating thing because it was so out of character but I've kinda gotten used to him finding new relationships because I grown to fall in love with those characters. As long as he has meaningful relationships like with Bea and Shawn where it develops and grows, I end up loving it. My only requirements for his relationship is letting Dick be himself and letting him be happy. I was furious that whoever writer ended Bea's relationship and for what? "I'm sorry, I can't love you anymore, I got memories back." What kinda a reason is that?! It's not even remotely believable! I have so much to say but it's going to turn into a rant about how dumb the reasoning is.

Tom Taylor took all of Dick's fake worst traits and amplified them by a billion. Actually you know what? I get what's he's trying to do. He picked one trait of Dick's - caring - and trashed his entire life story at the expense of his intelligence, athleticism, humor (c'mon Dick was genuinely funny before this run, his humor did not suck), and wit to support this one little thing.

He wouldn't understand subtlety if it hit him in the face.

[azelmaandeponine]

Hey! I wonder if you think this is likely to happen, but I love those headcannons of Stanford being a protective older brother, I mean, I wonder that after the "Scrapbook Theraphy", I wonder if well... Ford more than less realizes something, that the whole "Stan looks like me, but if he had given up in life.", he knew that Stan always acts like he had given up in life, but I think when they figure out their shit, he learns that the same people who praised him, at the same time put down Stan, not because of his behavior, but because they tought he was dumb or worthless...

I love those headcannons and fanfics, in which for unfortunate reasons, Stan and Ford end meeting with Filbrick again or go to his grave and now that Ford has a better panorama that his father abused Stan, he's of course angry.

I like the general headcannon, in which in front of Filbrick, there's now some kind of role reversal, now is Stan the one who is afraid of him and even suffers and emotional regretion, while Ford on the other hand now is this close of strangling and murdering their father. I mean, Stan keeps calling Filbrick "Pops", "Pa" or "Dad", while Ford now learning about the abuse, he calls Filbrick by his name now.

I mean, you said, Ford hates injustices, so he'll do anything in his power to defeat the villain in question and now that he learns that his father was an abuser all along, he wants to make good in his oath that he'll be the a good brother and the brother that Stan deserves, I mean...

There's a comic made by @demico-art, where Stan goes to Filbrick's grave and of course he has some kind of closure, that's honestly how I picture Stan talking with his dad. While Ford would be like a fic I read in which, he's trying to restrain himself from kicking the grave and not look like a crazy man, but he's calling out his father for abusing Stan and being a man unable to get impressed by them, of course that neither of the family deserved Stan, but yet, Ford is going to make a good brother because he needs and wants him in his life.

There's a fic I'm trying to find, that I read back in 2016-2018, in which Filbrick comes back as a ghost during Summerween/Halloween and starts berating Stan, then Soos and Ford arrive and the two, mainly Soos defend Stan, with Soos, yelling at him for being a horrible father, saying that he should be proud of who their sons are, specially commenting in how Stan sacrificed to save the world. When Filbrick attacks Soos, Stan stops being frozen in fear and defends Soos... then he yells his to his dad to get out of their homes and lives and never come back and when Filbrick refuses Ford threatens him with exorcising him and sending him to a truly horrible place. I honestly love this.

And there's other fics as well, in which Stan and Ford meet Filbrick, now in his 80's, while Stan is afraid, Ford on the other hand is defensive of Stan the whole time and is this close of doing something crazy. Needing Stan to restrain him at all costs...

But honestly, that's how I think their interactions, now in the present would go, Stan still is sad, because he couldn't prove his father wrong and of course still shows fear and vulnerability in front of him, while Ford plain and simply hates him, not only for steering him away from Stan, but also for the abuse of him. Being surprisingly the one who is more rebellious in front of him. Even considering that Filbrick is not worth that Stan keeps remembering him. Maybe he also talks by experience, since Ford was abused by Bill for too long and he doesn't like that Stan keeps giving Filbrick power, since he now he knows how the abuse works.

I actually LOVE Ford being protective of Stan! I love both Stan and Ford being protective of each other, for that matter.

As for their feelings about Filbrick.

Stan and Ford grew up in the 60s-70s, so they probably didn't realize Filbrick abused them at first. But in modern times I think Ford's gonna reach that realization first.

I mean, Stan applied Filbrick's treatment of him on Dipper (to a far lesser extent) and it almost destroyed their relationship.

Filbrick's most likely dead in modern times, and quite frankly, Stan and Ford shouldn't have to deal with his abusive ass.

Though in regards to that fic you mentioned, it sounds familiar, so I think I've read it too, though I don't remember what it's called.

Though if they were to meet again, yes, I'd LOVE to see Ford tell Filbrick off! Filbrick was abusive to both twins, and as you mentioned, Bill was extremely abusive to Ford as well. Both Stan and Ford deserved better.

[jemappellezay]

I'm on my Cobie Smulders hyperfixation and I really think my top 3 characters that she played could easily be seen as an alternate universe variant of each other.

Hear me out.

(tw: mentions of abuse and death)

While we don't know the full background of Major Susan Turner (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)), we know that both Maria Hill (Marvel Cinematic Universe (2012-2023)) and Dex Parios (Stumptown (2019)) were both born into dysfunctional families and those three ended up in the military one way or another. The roles we saw were the result of twists and turns that happened during that time.

We all know MCU sucks when it comes to backstory, but (comic) canonically, Maria Hill's mother died giving birth to her and she grew up in an abusive household with her father. She joined the Marine Corps later in life.

Maria Hill was the outcome if they were offered a "better" option—an out. She joined SHIELD and due to her determination and skill, she quickly climbed up the ranks to the point where she became the second in command (even director at some point in the comics).

Dex Parios, undoubtedly, was the most "unserious" character compared to the other two. Though, she was more like Maria than we realized. Her growing-up life was somewhat alright compared to Maria's, but she did have to see the love of her life betrothed to another. Just like Maria, she became a marine—a damn good one.

However, unlike Maria, Dex was never offered a "better option". She had to see the very same man that broke her heart killed in front of her and for years, she blamed herself for it. She never had a "better option" because her mother then left her little brother alone, making her the sole caretaker of him. Dex was never offered a "better option" so for years, she had to hop between one job to another, trying to stay afloat, and was left to cope with her trauma by herself. Only years later, she finally found what worked for her: helping people by becoming a private investigator.

Compared to the other two that I listed, we know a lot less about Major Susan Turner, but I think we can make some guesses from what we saw. Another difference was that she joined the Army rather than the Marines, and she never got out. She didn't really need to (at first, at least).

The life in the army was treating her well. She was a well-respected commanding officer. She was damn good at her job. That being said, she never let her job get in the way of her values and despite all the conspiracy and shits they tried to throw at her, she ended up back in her job due to her resilience. Major Susan Turner is what they would've been if they stayed in the military.

In conclusion, idk if my writings did justice to explain it, but they were more similar than we (I) realized. They were all resilient, determined, stubborn af and didn't know when to quit. They were good people (some is more morally gray than the other) who used their very similar skills to help other people in the way they knew. I love them all, and I love Cobie for bringing them to me and doing justice to their characters.

Thanks for reading my word vomit.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Iris West

Treated terribly by fandom because of racism and misogyny

Iris is one of the oldest Flash characters (well, oldest by measure of the Silver Age Flash) and despite the show's problems she was adapted pretty well. Her being pushed aside 100% has to do with her being Black in the adaptation. The most popular ship on Ao3 for that show is her white husband x a white passing supervillain clearly intended to be read as actually white who has been in LITERALLY ~SIX EPISODES. He DIED IN 2016. THEY ARE STILL DOING THIS

Gets mom friended like you wouldn't BELIEVE. People hate her because she was childhood best friends with The Flash and has chemistry with him :( like it's her fault she's sweet and smart and not the male blue coded villain to the red hero. I am so tired

Stephanie Brown

Literally my best friend ever!!! Every time she shows up in a comic I point at her and smile!!! She’s the vigilante known as spoiler & batgirl & was a robin before getting fridged because of editorial mandate and misogyny she deserves so much better @_@. The m/m that some people hate her for is timkon; like they ARE very gay but people are genuinely insane about hating her instead of also realizing that she too is gay (insane amount of subtext w her bff cass). Basically she was Tim’s girlfriend for a long time on and off. People will literally call her abusive for no reason they’ll be like oh but she didn’t apologize for starting a gang war accidentally and faced no consequences for it :/ as if she wasn’t literally KILLED OFF BRUTALLY. And although hate is rarer for her nowadays from what I’ve seen she’s also a victim of Background Lesbian Syndrome. And also a victim of Woman Not Allowed To Have Ocmplex Feelings in the source material itself (tim is canonically bi now yay but like steph wasn’t allowed to have any complicated feelings at all at her on again off again ex breaking up with her for good???). Anyways she’s the light of my life.

she’s the light of my life my baby girl my everything. she canonically dated tim drake, but people love to ship tim with his male friend kon or his male brothers (🤢🤮) and so they constantly sideline her, making her the quirky wingwoman or sometimes even villainizing her by trying to claim she was abusive to tim. i don’t know why so many people hate her my girl will literally just be standing there and people will hate on her.

Stephanie was first introduced in the 1994 Robin series as a side love interest for Robin, but when she turned out to be really popular she became the main love interest. Because of this, she was fully fleshed out as a vigilante calling herself Spoiler to try and take down her villainous father, the Cluemaster. She later grew a lot closer to other cast members, such as Batgirl and Oracle, to get herself a firmly established place among the bats. Then, she dies in a gang war after taking up the Robin mantle. Eventually, in 2009, she was brought back from the dead and took on the Batgirl mantle. Her and Robin get back together sometime around ~2010 and they are solidly together until 2021. Then, Robin breaks up with her off panel for zero reason in canon, only to date some really boring guy named Bernard. By fanon, she's often demonized and turned into an abuser to make either this ship, or a lot of other mlm ships happen. Either that or things are mysteriously set in the time she's dead despite characters who were not yet introduced until she returned appearing. strange.

[cuephrase]

as someone who knows nothing about dc/batfam besides bare basics where do I even start with the comics? please send help its so confusing and sm to go through 😭🧎‍♀️

help has arrived!! my sincerest apologies for the delay, i started writing and somehow 2.5 days had passed.

full transparency, for a second i was like, "oh idk if i'm the best person to ask, i haven't been reading comics for years" and then i realized i figured my way into comics with like essentially zero prior experience so maybe i am uniquely qualified to help! that being said, if this doesn't work or you see a post from a comic veteran that looks more helpful, by all means ignore me.

first things first- it is super confusing!! there's all these big events, DC is obsessed with the word "Crisis", some labels are mainline and others aren't- don't worry about any of that. ignore the vast forest that is Comics and focus on one tree.

and by that i mean, pick one character to start with.

this post ended up turning into a behemoth when i wasn't looking so everything else is going to go under the cut!

alright, now that you have your character of choice, it's time to choose which era of comics you want to start in. there are basically 4 different eras, and you may have heard their names tossed around.

PRE-CRISIS: this is where Comics begin. this era covers comics from when they began being published up until 1985. most of this is no longer canon, but like when they hit the reboot button in '85, they didn't restart from the very beginning. so like, 90% of robin!dick comics is Pre-Crisis. some comics kept a few Pre-Crisis storylines canon, like The New Teen Titans starts before the reboot, but the pre-boot storylines are still canon. i personally have not read very many Pre-Crisis comics, i cherry-picked what looked interesting to me. unless you want to like dive in chronologically and begin at the Beginning, i wouldn't recommend hopping in here bc you'll probably get super fatigued, but yk, it is ultimately up to you. most important takeaway here is that whenever people mention Pre-Crisis, they mean old comics.

POST-CRISIS: 1985-2011. this is where most comics veterans started reading comics/what they grew up with. these are the comics that a decent amount of current comics writers/artists grew up reading/what got them into comics. there is a lot of love + nostalgia for this era, with good reason!! i do think some people who favor this era have a tendency to be close-minded in regards to current comics but re:nostalgia and there have been some dumb decisions so i get it!

NEW 52: aka, Post-Flashpoint, N52. 2011-2016 dc gets new management. they more or less decided to toss all pre-existing canon out the window and re-start in the middle. honestly, it was like they just started making fanfiction. and i don't mean that negatively, i mean like, even though they "restarted" and "anyone" should be able to jump in on an #1 in n52...the comics still assumed you had some working knowledge about the characters. which. i mean, i understand that a total restart was not plausible, (lmao imagine just snapping the vast majority of characters out of existence. they did snap some but like, a full restart would have axed even Dick technically.) i started reading comics here bc when i asked my brother-in-law (who grew up reading comics, with a dad who grew up reading comics), he was like, "omg!! start here, it'll be perfect!!" and i was like "okay!!" and then...i found myself googling. a lot. which is fine!! but idk maybe not as beginner-friendly as advertised? also, notice how this era only lasts for 4 years. it's not that none of it is relevant now, but it was a) not very well received, and b) while some of it is def still canon/referenced, a lot of it contradicts with Post-Crisis, and our fourth and final era reboots so that most of Post-Crisis is canon again. you will see a lot of hatred/dislike for comics in this era/concepts introduced here.

REBIRTH: 2016-present day. DC decided to rollback their extreme changes and soft-reboot to basically try and meld Post-Crisis and N52 timelines/continuities into one cohesive continuity. which. is a lil like trying to mix oil and water, but it is an improvement imo. all the runs restart at #1.

other people might disagree with me, but i honestly don't think it matters which era you start with. unless you start from the very beginning, you're going to have some questions. if you start in Post-Crisis, you're going to have questions when you get to N52/Rebirth, and vice-versa. and that's okay!! don't be ever be embarrased/discouraged because you have a question. google is your friend. also, odds are, if you end up enjoying comics, you'll read from all the eras. timelines will always be confusing. if you read arcs/events out of order, you'll sort stuff out. as long as you're reading what sounds interesting, you can't really go wrong. you might laugh at your decisions later, but that's okay!!

for example, personal experience, this was my intro reading order: N52 Nightwing, A Death in the Family (Post-Crisis), Under the Red Hood (Post-Crisis), Joker War (Rebirth), Robin 1994 (Post-Crisis) until like issue #11?, Rebirth Nightwing to most current release, back to Robin 1994.

clearly, I had no clue what the hell i was doing from one perspective. but in the moment, i was having a grand ole time. i read N52 Nightwing, had my mind blown at the existence of FOUR Robins, couldn't believe they KILLED one, had to see that for myself, then i had to see how his return played out, and when I was buying the UTRH trade the Joker War trade had a lil rec note from an employee, i flipped through it, thought the art was sick, was confused AF when i read it but googled for some clarity and just rolled it with it, thought Tim was neat, decided to check him out, had a rough time adjusting to the older art style, bounced back to modern comics with Dick, and then ultimately decided I could handle the art change (which, ngl, very useful skill for comics reading) and the rest is history.

even once i got more well-versed in comics, sometimes i knowingly read out of order because i just wanted to see a specific event and didn't feel like reading a ton of comics to get there. legit, read City of Bane, did not understand why Dick was not there but just accepted it and then months later was like OH!! HE WAS RIC THEN.

point is, if you're having fun, you're not making mistakes imo. am i going to recommend anyone follow my initial reading path to the T? no way!! but it worked for me.

but okay! so now, you've got your character and your era, and surprisingly the rest is really simple!! i have compiled a list for you that attempts to cover the trickier batfam entry points, but for almost any character the hopping on point is literally whichever run they're lead in: #1. for some, as you'll see with Batman, it won't be #1 in Post-Crisis but you can google, "where to start reading Action Comics Post-Crisis" and there you go. If there is a #0 issue, I would personally not recommend starting there, I would still start with #1 and then read the #0 issue when it would've come out, so like if it came out after #10, read it then. oh also, i'm sorry, i cannot offer personalized help with Barbara Gordon/Babs/Batgirl No. 1/Oracle, as of rn, i have only read her when she shows up in events/other people's runs. my best guess would be Batgirl/Bird of Prey.

now, before we get to the lists, may i present you with

MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE

there are a handful of mindsets that i think will be super helpful for breaking into comics, but the most important, especially starting out, is to make sure you're reading what interests you and that you're having fun. you can worry about slogging through significant runs later, once you've cut your teeth a bit, or never.

i would honestly ignore "best of/top rec" lists. most of those are made up of comics that hit bc they're building on a foundation. if you're brand-new, you don't have a foundation. focus on that first, rather than reading the "right" runs. comic readers, veterans and casuals and newbies- they do not all agree on what the "right" runs are. and that's bc there are so many different writers/artists. bookmark these for later, when you feel more solid in your understanding of the character and maybe want to experiment.

characters, imo, can totally be written OOC. but one of the really beautiful things about comics in my experience is that getting to see characters written by different writers really adds so much depth and dimension to them, bc diff writers are going to have different angles they want to explore. will you like all these different angles? probably not! but that's okay. you'll develop your own taste for which stories you like/what takes resonate with you the most. sometimes you might find yourself in agreement with the popular opinion, other times you might find that you loved something it seems a lot of people hate. great! there is no test, you'll like what you like and that will be perfectly valid even if no else agrees.

with that in mind, be open-minded. adjusting to older art styles can be really hard! that's totally valid! but if you try it out here and there, you'll probably be able to get used to it. you're not always going to love the art in any era. sometimes not even in the same run. i think acknowledging that you dislike it is better than trying to force yourself to like it. my rule of thumb was, if i didn't like the art style, give it 3 comics. bc by then, i'd either adjust to it (which is not the same as liking it)/or get sucked into the story and not care so much, or i would know, yeah this really isn't working for me. and then i had a decision to make: power through or drop it. sometimes you can knuckle down. other times, i've found that giving myself a break and returning to a difficult comic once i've recharged is better.

mostly the same advice for writers. although, i have learned that just because i dislike an author in X run, doesn't mean i'll dislike them in Y run, or even in the next arc they write in X run. as you go through comics, keep in mind that most storylines within a run are six issue arcs. if you're not vibing with the current arc, try skipping ahead to the next one. skimming is okay. obvs, yk, don't skim every comic you read, but if you find yourself not super interested, but feeling like there's some important stuff so you don't want to have to backtrack later, skim. again, the goal is to have fun!

other things that might trip you up-

terminology: wtf is a volume anyways?

i'm so glad you asked!! answer: it depends. so okay, if like you google a reading order list, you might see Batman (Vol. 1) #1-100, or something like that. in this case a volume is a whole entire run from start to finish. Batman Vol 1, in this example, would be synonymous with Batman (1937-2011), which includes both Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis.

however, if you're looking at collected editions, or trades, a volume will be more like a volume of manga, where volume refers to that set of issues.

trades: this is when the publisher collects a run or event into a book that would be sold somewhere like Barnes & Noble, it can be hardback or paperback. single issues are not trades.

events: these are crossover storylines! sometimes they cross houses, so you could have issues from Batman and say, Green Lantern, but usually they're contained within a house. events that effect the whole universe are usually their own "run", like Infinite Crisis had tie-in issues from most (all) on-goings, but the core issues were Infinite Crisis #1, and so on. they range widely in scale, clearly.

on-goings: can refer to currently running comics, for example rn, Zdarsky's Batman and Tom Taylor's Nightwing are on-goings. Jason and Tim are not leading any on-goings rn. or, it can be used to refer to comics that were on-going at the time of whatever is being discussed.

variant: this has nothing to do with the comics content itself, it relates purely to the covers. most current comics have their standard cover, and then a variant or two or four. any ratio, so for instance 1:25 variant, just means that for every 25 standard copies, there is 1 of that variant. that kind of variant is usually a store incentive, so that they'll buy a certain amount of copies to sell. not all variants are rare though!

facsimile: this is when they reprint an old comic. not as a trade, just as single issue.

black label/elseworld: these are comics that are published by DC, but not part of the mainline comics' canon continuity. sometimes they'll sort of fold in black label stuff, but like, it's essentially licensed fanfic.

events: ahh!! the last page says the story continues in a different run!!

2 options:

1) ignore it, stay in your run. there'll be a couple gaps but you'll live, and google is free.

2) google "event-name-here reading order". this will give you lists that will tell you which comics to read in which order. sometimes the order they came out in is not the best reading order. some events flow better than others. also, there will be "core" issues and "tie-ins". core issues are the Main Storyline, not skippable, (if you don't want to be confused). tie-ins are character-specific, so important for that character but if you don't care about them, those issues will be skippable.

there is no wrong choice. you can change your mind, decide you want to read the event, or lose interest in the event and stick with your current run.

concurrent runs: what should you do if there are multiple runs you want to read that came out at the same time while they were being published?

again, two options.

1) read them in the order they were released. the easiest way to do this is to read month by month, so read all the issues that came out in May of X year, then June, so forth. you'll basically be simulating keeping up with current comics as they release.

2) pick a title, read it to the end, start the next one. this will have you essentially cycling through the same period from start to finish a few times, but honestly there's a lot going on in comics and outside of events where they cross-over, there isn't too much overlap, so it doesn't feel super repetitive. at least to me. plus, if you've read the event, you don't need to re-read it every time you hit it, imo. this is how i do it actually. i mean, current comics, i read the runs i'm following as they release, but for backlog, i stick to one title at a time. if i'm feeling fancy, i might read one run up to a certain point, then switch titles, then switch back, but i am max switching between 2. an example of this is actually what i'm doing rn. i read batgirl 2000 up to issue #11 (or 12?) and then switched to Batman: Gotham Knights, which is what I'm currently reading. why? B:GK starts after B2000, and i couldn't pick, so i split the difference and went semi-chronological.

finally, there's no pressure. by which i mean, you don't need to speed run. especially if you don't have a ton of free time, don't worry about being the most efficient reader, always reading runs that'll give you the most bang for your buck according to other people, etc. i mean also, there is just. so. much. content. you cannot sprint your way through, this is a marathon at best, a leisurely jog, ideally.

looking at the sheer amount of content out there was super overwhelming to me, even though i wanted to read it. it's not a quick task, so it felt impossible. like even if i finished one run, well, that was just a drop in the bucket, i'd made barely any progress in the grand scheme of things. that was paralyzing.

i ended up mocking up a list for myself of what i thought of as "key" runs. this was still an ambitious list, but like tailored to my interests. as i read/saw posts, if a title not on this list sounded interesting, i stuck it on my tbrl list. (to be read later). that was essentially me going, 'hey, this looks interesting, but my plate is full rn, so i'll save it for later.' i didn't add runs from my tbrl to my key list as i went, i focused on working through my keys first.

within my keys, i just bounced all over the place. the order made sense to me, lmao, and probably no one else. it was a very loose, "follow this character chronologically". except for dick i read him all wonky, mainly bc i started with N52, skipped some N52 to get to Rebirth, skipped some Rebirth (*cough* Ric era *cough*), switched characters, then came back to Dick, bounced to NTT, practically bounced right back off it bc the transistion from modern to 80's comic was ROUGH, went and Grayson (N52), forced myself to adjust to older comics, then went through chronologically until i hit dick!bats era bc i'd read a solid chunk of it between reading for Tim and Damian. i share all this only to say, you can read however, it'll work out.

if you're curious, it took me six months to read my whole "key" list. almost to the day, funnily enough. i don't remember the exact number, but i think it was like north of 700+ comics at least? tbh, i didn't feel like i'd read all that many comics but based off some conversations i've had, maybe it is? i have no frame of reference. operating under the assumption that that is a lot of comics, i feel like it's important that you know a) i have a ton of free time, and b) i read very fast.

set zero expectations for yourself time-wise. it's not a race, no one is judging you. don't be an idiot like me and try to calculate how long it will take you to read X amount of comics either, okay HAHA. context: when i started Robin 1993, the fact that it was 195 issues was massively intimidating. the longest run i'd read so far was 30. i averaged out my comics per day, lowballed to give myself breathing room and nearly cried bc it was going to take me 20 days (3 whole weeks!!!) to read the whole thing and that felt like an eternity. i ended up reading it in 5 days. (i was HOOKED.) on the complete opposite end of things, i started Batman: Gotham Knights...a month ago? maybe two. i'm still on #18, bc life got busy.

bottom line, you've no real idea how long it will take you to read anything, let alone your whole wish list, and it really doesn't matter how long it takes you, as long as, say it with me, you're having fun!!

god i feel annoying.

okie dokie!! i think that covers all the dilemmas i remember having, but if i missed anything, feel free to send in another ask!

BRUCE WAYNE:

Post-Crisis only bc everywhere else is just #1

Batman 1940 #404

Detective Comics 1937 #568.

DICK GRAYSON:

Dick's og robin days are allllll Pre-Crisis. i'm not sure which issues he comes in tbh. if you don't read want to start in Pre-Crisis, (valid, wise imo), most robin!Dick content is going to come from flashback storylines. but there are some robin!Dick comics that are solid, contained stories that are not Pre-crisis. not an exhaustive list but:

Robin: Year One

Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet

Batman- One Bad Day: Mr. Freeze

and then for Dick as Nightwing, it's a lil tricky bc technically that starts in The New Teen Titans 1980. You could start at #1, or #42, which is the Judas Contract storyline where Nightwing debuts. (The title's name switches to Tales of the Teen Titans, it's the same run.)

However, if you're not interested in reading a team book, valid, then you have:

Nightwing 1995 (technically comes before the main run, this was a 4 issue prequel mini)

Nightwing 1996, start at #1. Now, if you stick with this run, there are 2 stories that are part of it but were done separately as minis so for whatever reason, on DCUI at least, they're not in the order, but you'd read Nightwing/Huntress after Nightwing #18, and then Nightwing: The Target after Nightwing #60 i believe.

Or, Nightwing: Year One. This is part of the Nightwing 1996 run, but has been collected separately, so you could start here, i suppose.

JASON TODD

okay so technically, he does not lead a title until N52. but obvs, he has relevant comics before that.

i would not personally recommend starting with UTRH. like, if that's what you want to read, valid, do what you want. but also, if you're willing to read 9-23 comics beforehand, i truly think you will appreciate/enjoy UTRH way more. bc like they just make the overall drama/angst that much more, yk? like okay if UTRH is chicken breast, you could just cook it as is and eat it. but unseasoned chicken just does not hit the way it could. add a lil salt + pepper, bam, big diff. add some legit seasoning?! now you're cooking. does that make sense?

actually okay hmm. i loathe to be prescriptive and give orders, but here, i'll lay out what i consider to be the Bare Minimum (salt and pepper) + the Crash Course (legit seasoning). no wrong choice!

Bare Minimum (9 Comics before you read UTRH):

A Death in the Family

A Lonely Place of Dying

Crash Course (23 Comics before you read UTRH):

Batman #408- 409

Detective Comics #569-571, 573-574

Batman #416, 424-425

A Death in the Family

New Teen Titans #55

A Lonely Place of Dying

Batman: Gotham Knights #43-45 (45 is the important one imo, but like it will make a lil more sense if you start at 43)

if you want to read the entirety of his og run as Robin, that would be Batman #408-425, and Detective Comics #568-#582. if you want like a whole ass breakdown of all his appearances in chronological order, check this godsend of a resource out.

and again, not to tell you what to do, but New52 Red Hood and the Outlaws is um. i'll be nice. i did not enjoy it. is it worth reading if you love Jason? honestly yeah. but i wouldn't start there, that's all i'm saying.

CASSANDRA CAIN:

Very simple!! She first appears in Batman, during the No Man's Land arc, so her issues there would be Batman #567-569, and then Batgirl 2000.

she gets deleted in the New 52 launch, (boo tomato, tomato), and isn't brought back until Batman and Robin: Eternal. then she co-lead a recent (Rebirth) Batgirls run with Steph. lots going on in B&R:E, would not recommend as a starting point.

TIM DRAKE:

Alright, honestly, with Tim all your best jumping on points are Post-Crisis. N52 Teen Titans is whack, I have yet to revisit it and power through, and if you've seen my other rec list, yk I'm not a fan of any modern runs he's lead, so i cannot in good conscience, rec those as starting points. Detective Comics Rebirth, i've heard, is solid, but a) i still haven't read it yet unfortunately, and b) he like dies. "dies". not very far in. and then, consequentially, is not present for a hot minute. so.

but anyways! you do have options in Post-Crisis!!

A Lonely Place of Dying. his intro!!

his official like debut as Robin is Batman #457, but he is in Batman comics that take place between aLPoD and #457.

Robin 1991. this is the first of 3 mini-series that take place before Tim's main run. i accidentally skipped them bc i didn't know they existed whoops

Robin 1993. his main run! the longest Robin title to run so far.

technically, Young Justice 1998 is also an option, if you're interested in the team. I started reading this after Robin #120, read the whole run, then went back to Robin. see advice on concurrent runs below.

Stephanie Brown:

tbh, not a great starting character. not because she isn't great!! she's just very much so a side character until she gets her own run, Batgirl 2009, but there is so much going on in that time-period (Bruce is dead, Dick is Batman, etc.), that like it's not super beginner friendly imo. and then they delete her when they do New 52, she gets brought back in Batman Eternal if i'm remembering correctly? And then she and Cass lead a recent (Rebirth) Batgirls run.

ik her first appearance is in Batman, although i don't know exactly which issue. she's in Robin 1993 a lot, ofc. she's also in Batgirl 2000 here and there. basically, you'll have to do some hunting and moving around if you just want to follow Steph. i do not know those issues by heart, someone somewhere has probably listed them. re: google is your friend!!

Duke Thomas:

okay so. ik he first appears at some point in the N52 Batman run, don't know the exact issue, but i'm pretty positive it's an event of some kind, could be wrong. then he is the main in a team book, We Are Robin. then i think he's a side character in Batman/Detective Comics mainly? he has a mini-series, Batman and The Signal.

i have not read his first appearance yet, i have read We Are Robin. i hesitate to say that he's not a great character to start with bc i'm pretty sure DC created him to like attract new readers, which should imply that he's a good starting character?? but like stuff is weiiiird where he comes in, Bruce is not Batman bc he doesn't have his memories (idk why yet, haven't read yet), Jim Gordon is Robo-Batman- weird. very confusing place to start, i would imagine. which is a bummer bc like, Duke is fantastic. love him. cannot wait to read more. unfortunately, there are just some characters who's existence necessitates a lot of context. i like to think they're worth the wait, though!

Damian Wayne:

he is the trickiest to hop in on imo, out of the "main" members. he is also a character who's existence necessitates context. you can def crash course him though, to an extent. honestly, with any characters that came in towards the end of Post-Crisis or later, being okay with confusion is like extra important, if you want to start with them.

2/3 of Damian's first 3 major appearances are events. i read Dami later on in my comics journey, so by then i was like, pshh, event nbd. i also read him chronologically, so i could be biased, but i do think that is best. however, yk, go for what interests you.

Post Crisis:

Batman #655-658, then The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, then Battle for the Cowl.

Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn. Dick!Bats + officially Robin Damian

New 52:

Batman and Robin. He's going to die. He will be resurrected. Then, Robin: Son of Batman.

Rebirth:

Super Sons

Robin

ofc, this doesn't cover everyone, but i hope this is enough to get you started!! i realize that this is long-ass post, i'm sorry i couldn't be more concise. i sincerely hope this was helpful/made stuff less intimidating, and if i failed in that regard, i'm so sorry.

i hope you have so much fun!! my ask box will always be open, and so are my dms if you have any more questions or want to freak out about comics :)

[gffa]

I noticed that you're diving into Batman comics recently, and I decided to ask you: do you think that Batman's relationship with his Robins is his "redemption" story? I mean, even though this wasn't the case when Dick was first introduced, the modern Robins are very much pulling the Dark Knight out of the shadows. It's not the same as Luke Skywalker unmasking Darth Vader in Episode VI, but it's kinda the same situation - they're causing Bruce Wayne to wake up under the Batman mask...

Ask a dozen different comics writers, all who are just as foundational/not foundational as each other because there's no singular creator here, and you'll get a dozen different answers to this question, but! I would say that, yes, Batman's relationship with Robins is a "you saved me from the dark" story--not that Bruce needs a redemption in the same way a villain does, but he does need pulling back from the light. Modern versions of the first Robin almost always come back to this--Dick Grayson brought light and laughter to Wayne Manor, that Bruce was in a dark place and Dick brought him out of those shadows:

(Robin: Year One + Detective Comics #1000) That when he starts wandering back into the dark, Robin is there to go, "Nah, that's bullshit." It's not always necessarily something that Bruce easily accepts, sometimes he feels guilty about what that cost Dick, to be that for him--though, Dick usually points out that he chooses what he wants to do and that he gained so much when Bruce saved him, just as much as he gave back to Bruce. It's not just when he was a kid, but even as an adult, Dick is still the one that most often does so as an adult--where sometimes he does have to back off that, because Bruce relies on him so heavily for it (and then winds up calling Bruce to talk to him about it anyway 😂) and Dick often just naturally steps into that role, like in the recent Gotham War storyline. That's how deeply embedded the theme is in their dynamic--that it's not just that Dick pulls him out of the dark, it's such a common occurrence that sometimes the question has to be asked, "Does this have a cost on Dick, to be the light to Bruce's darkness?"

(Batman: Urban Legends, "The Murder Club") Because that often is the role Dick plays in Batman's life--he's not the only one that Bruce trusts with this, he has a whole roster of friends (he's brightened by his friendship with Clark, for example, or Alfred emotionally supports him constantly and helps stabilize him), but if you have to pick one heart of the family, of Bruce's family, it's absolutely Dick Grayson:

(Batman: Urban Legends, "The Murder Club") To the point, that when others can't do it, they call in Dick to be the Bruce Whisperer like Tim did in that Urban Legends story or like Alfred does when Bruce is spiraling over Damian's death:

("Robin Rises") But honestly, it's true of all of them:

(Batman 2016) I'm focusing most on Dick here because a) that's the majority of what I've read since I came back to comics and b) because he does tend to be the one that falls into that role the most often, but all of the Robins generally are there to remind Bruce to be a better person, all of his friendships with the other superheroes like Clark and Diana and Barry are there to help him be a better person:

(Batman: Knight Terrors) While they're all inextricably tied to their costumed identities, these are people who keep him grounded as Bruce Wayne rather than stripping him down to just Batman, they're the ones who remind him that they're not just soldiers in a war, they're his sons, they're family, and he doesn't keep them around because he needs fighters, he keeps them around because he loves them. That, while it's rarely commented on directly, it is woven into the themes of Batman that his character arc is: he lost his parents, he lost the stability that family would give him, but he gained a son, he grew to accept people into his heart again, to love them, to grow into a better person for them, to come out of the dark for them, to not let what happened to his parents happen to his son:

(Nightwing 2016 #84) There's a ton more examples that I can't overload this post with (and also I'm still catching up) but, yeah, it's very, very much a theme with many authors that the Robins bring Batman out of the dark, they're his salvation, they're the healing of a little boy who lost his parents growing up and healing through taking in children of his own. Children teach you how to love, they teach you compassion, they make you a better person. In that, the story of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker is very much a sibling theme to Batman and the Robins.

[kiragecko]

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[thatscarletflycatcher]

Hi! Do you know if North and South became Gaskell's most popular novel because of the success of the series or was it already popular before that or a combination of both?

Hi!

Nuance (?) XD

This is what I've learned so far in my research and general reading:

For a long, long time, Gaskell was known as "the author of Cranford". Whenever and wherever she's mentioned after her death and to the beginning of the 20th century at the very least, that's mostly the one or main work she'll be mentioned in association with. For example, Chesterton's The Victorian Age in Literature (1913) only mentions her twice, and both times in passing: once for Cranford, and once for The Life of Charlotte Brontë; the latter as a reference book, a way in which it was often brought up, strictly in reference to Charlotte Brontë herself.

Cranford being short and sweet made for a very reprintable novel. Scholars have studied how it was apparently read pretty extensively in American schools in the early 20th century, and how there was also a push for it in WWII Britain.

Yet on another branch, in the early 20th century the notion of the Victorian Social Novel as a genre took roots, specially through the work of a French academic called Louis Cazamian, who mentioned as the main authors of this genre, Charles Kingsley, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell and Benjamin Disraeli. So as studies on the Victorian Social Novel grew and developed, Gaskell was recognized mainly as the author of Mary Barton and North and South (sometimes with Ruth and Sylvia's Lovers).

From there I can only speculate that the answer to "which was Gaskell's most popular/most known work?" throughout most of the 20th century would be, between those who had heard about her, either Cranford, Mary Barton, or North and South depending on where the person answering was coming from, academically and literarily.

Feminist academic trends post WWII tended to a revalorization of female novelists through an emphasis on the seriousness of their social and political insights, which probably contributed to further highlighting of MB and N&S and sidelining of Cranford.

Now, for the role of adaptations, these are the tv and radio adaptations of Gaskell that I know of, in order of their coming out: - Wives and Daughters (1971, tv) - Cranford (1972, tv) - North and South (1975, tv) - Wives and Daughters (1983, radio) - The Old Nurse's Story (1984, radio) - Mr. Harrison's Confessions (1988, radio) - North and South (1997, radio) - The Grey Woman/Lois the Witch/The Poor Clare/The Crooked Branch/The Squire's Story (1998, radio) - Wives and Daughters (1999, tv) - Mary Barton (2001, radio) - North and South (2004, tv) - Cranford (2007, tv) - Wives and Daughters (2010, radio) - Sylvia's Lovers (2016, radio) - North and South (2022, radio)

Wives and Daughters has been adapted the most, perhaps because it is known as Gaskell's best work and that would be the driving interest for people choosing programming at the BBC.

Now, N&S 2004... it is the weakest of the modern tv adaptations, and also the most heavily edited from the source material for romanticizing purposes. It is by far the most popular, but because of its tranformativeness, it tends to be a rather isolated popularity of the tv series disconnected for the most part from the novel and the author. I remember @bethanydelleman telling me a while ago that there is a Facebook group/page specifically for N&S 2004, while she couldn't find none that was about the novel or Gaskell in general.

The nuance I'm trying to insert here is "to what degree the adaptation making the name, theme and author of the novel more widely heard is translated in popularity?" You can comically compare a similar effect when lokimania was at its peak and people were watching Cranford just to ogle at Tom Hiddleston. Yes, it meant that people heard of Cranford and of Gaskell in association with it, but does that translate to popularity? I think a whole lot of N&S 04 popularity is as a vehicle for Richard Armitage handsomness (I mean, the most often proffered sentence, I believe, after the "have you watched North and South the miniseries?" question is "Richard Armitage is so hot")

In conclusion... yes and no? Kinda? Maybe? It depends? Multiple factors? That's all I can say.

[sarahdogoc80]

Part 1. History That is Important for Understanding Modern Addictions.

My biggest problem with blaming the addicts themselves is because of how corporation has infected the American and many other medical establishments for decades. The farthest back case I can for 100 percent of a higher body getting a country addicted knowingly for their own ends. Was The U.K doing it to China in the 1800's. This is to provide this has been happening for a long time and has a trail. But moving over to America specifically. The Opiate Tragedy wasn't the first of it's kind. But was probably the worst one. The other two substances that have a suspiciously similar history were the Tobacco industry and the Diet Pill epidemic that caused cocaine and crack to explode in popularity or their invention.

The problem with linking weed to these two is Weed has been something America has been trying to get rid of since the 1800 due to lobbing. Not because of it's actually health hazard. Marijuana was lobbied against by oil and lumber corporations around that time because the part of the plant you can't smoke can be very useful. And they were threatened by it. At the time weed was just a regular crop so it would be like a modern day corporation trying to ban sunflowers. The part you can't smoke can be turned into paper, oil based for paints. Etc.

Some early propaganda against weed was Reefer Madness which came out in the 30's. This is something anyone who has been around stoners can see is comically exaggerated.

Another interesting fact is weed started being associated with Mexicans in the 1950's. And "people" (who where totally not feds) started pushing this narrative that smoking the weeds turned Mexicans into rapist, lazy, made them violet, etc. These very degrading stereotypes are still forced on these people. Fun fact when they started cracking down on weed they made up the gateway theory (which has been debunked by people way smarter then me and access to labs go read their reports) because it was something they were already against and was a connection they could make against their enemies. Because a lot of people smoked. Sometimes weed and LSD was all young people had in the way of mental health treatment because it was the 1960's. Weed is something alot of people participated in so it was easier to justify arresting people protesting because they probably had weed on them. This became helpful later when the cops had to harass black people and Mexicans for existing. I know a certain someone who most people hate on this website. He grew up hearing this propaganda. And just kinda tweaked it for modern sensibility and just replaced the word weed with drugs. So original just like his 2016 slogan.

I bring this up because weed has been an enemy of the government for a while. So weed can't be lumped in with tobacco, alcohol, or percriptions drugs. In this respect. Because it wasn't being pushed on the people. Complete opposite really. A problem is weed is lest harmful especially because you don't have to smoke it which was it's major actual downside. Plus alot of people who have experienced befits of weed are still alive. Alcohol, tobacco, and most drugs will eventually kill their users. Weed can have negative effects but it is so minimal that it really just depends on the person if it's a threat. If you lived an unhealthy life or just got a bad draw in the gene pull. Then a lot of things will tip the scale. So yes while weed especially if being smoked could push someone medical condition over the edge.

I have to ask. How healthy were they thought life, were there genetics at play, were they older. These questions matter because at some point you have to let people make these choices. My grandma is 69 and has been smoking for a long time. But because of her high blood pressure and bad heart (high blood pressure is due to genes and weight. Her dad died at 43 due to a stroke because he had a high stress job and had a family history of high blood pressure and hypertension. And the reason my grandma has a bad heart is because of cocaine. Remember this is will be important later). She still smokes weed which is a risk to her health but she knows the risks and doesn't want to have to be forced to live the rest of her days in pain. And she doesn't want pain medicine because she doesn't want to deal with 2024 horrible pain management system. She can barley move and I'm the only one helping her. She can't do those random drug test, the pill count, the doctor appointments every month, etc. When she does eventually die I know what kind of life she lived. Even if weed is the final straw it wasn't what caused her bad health. We need to let people do what they want to an extent. The problem comes in when we throw corporations into it. Can you guess what the other three have in common that weed doesn't? It wasn't being peddled to younger people or variable people. Well just people in general.

History time. I think we are all aware of the ad companies big tobacco has run. And how they targeted children. So I won't go into detail about that. But I do need to talk about big pharma doing this with diet pills in the 1940-till the early 1970. When registration started being rolled out. And the Oxycotin and Opeits problem. Wouldn't it be weird if these highly addictive substance with documentation of how bad were being pushed on people and ran ads.... It would be funny wouldn't it. Here is note pads, pens, and junk with the Oxycotin branding on them

My mom specifically got a note pad and pen with her free samples of fucking Oxycotin. Hmmm yep totally okay. This isn't predatory at all. By the way because I like being a little shit. Lily Orchard guess who helped refine modern Adderall and building blocks for Oxycotin. They also reported negative effects of this proto Adderall.... the nazis. Oh boy looks like you gotta stop taking those two substances otherwise your surpoting their work. But I know you won't because you can't even follow your own messed up morals and you like those two drugs. So just remember you have those because of the hard work the Nazis put in. Note to normal people you aren't a bad person if you have to take these substances. Just because something was made by bad people doesn't mean what they made was evil it's self.

Now that I've set frame work. My next post will be about them pushing it on women. And specifically how they were targeted for both diet pills and oxycodine. I also have to touch on the 2008 recession because it played a huge roll. But I don't want to make an obnoxious large post. So I have to break it up.

Any questions feel free to ask. I will answer to the best of my ability. I'm reporting from my own view of watching this go down and being the weird autistic person who wanted to know why this had to happen. So I'm only an advocate for better pain management and to get the truth out there. I refuse to help go along to our government's propaganda so they can wash their hands of these people. These events where a tragedy. Please be respectful of those who lost Children, Parents, Siblings, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Partners, Friends, whatever to our government's greed. Your family and friends where/ are more then statistics, they were more then worthless junkies, they didn't deserve to die for a corporation or doctor, or government's paycheck. They were people too remember that, remember they were victims as much as you are. If your still struggling with either a loss or an addiction remember it can get better but you need professional help. Don't let it consume you. If you were specifically a victim of Oxycotin I know you where lied to. You were told it was less addictive because it was extended release. Your not stupid because you believed your doctor. They were paying them to push it. While they saw you as a target, a paycheck, you are more then that. Your not crazy, you were lied to and they KNEW what they were doing they just thought they wouldn't get caught. Don't let people called you a junkie when you try and speak on their injustice. Make sure people know their government and doctors are willing to sell them up shore and to always research any medicine they try and give you. I wish everyone effected by the Crisis of the the past, present or future you get better. You matter.

[cinderoo]

life update + what's next in 2024

since i shared the news on twitter, i think everyone following me on tumblr deserves to know about this as well. more under read more:

i resigned recently from my full time job for multiple reasons. i have been thinking about quitting since october 2023. the first reason is that i wanted a temporary break in life without knowing i had to go back in to work. and i wanted to enjoy a little bit of freedom which i never had the chance to experience since i jumped into working retail immediately after graduating art school (i will come back to this topic later). the second and more important reason is that i realized that i needed to go back to college for a non-art related major.

even though the retail stores i worked at had poor management, i don't regret my time working retail. i grew to love helping customers! and from the last retail job i worked at, i was promoted to Assistant Manager and because i was much closer to my bosses there, i was able to see how businesses are ran, which products a business should focus on - which products don't do so well, and how businesses can succeed further. that's how i developed an interest in both the economy and advertising - and i decided that going back in school by Fall 2024 for a Marketing Major would be a good choice of learning both things.

until then, i intend to enjoy my little break from life to the fullest by indulging in hobbies such as drawing, playing video games, and watching anime.

but if you have been following me for a few years, you would be shocked as to why i suddenly switched from 2D Animation to Marketing. i did study in art schools for 2D Animation from 2016 - 2019 after all.

this wasn't an easy decision for me to make. i cried and grieved over the time and money that i am funneling down the drain, so i know.

to paraphrase what i wrote on twitter, i basically came to realize that i was not going to get a job in 2D Animation at this rate because of the recession in the industry. and i also figured out that i would have no time to draw or create anyway even if i got a job in that field - hitting creative burnout from 2D animation sounds like an oxymoron. no thank you.

even when i was working full time and going to art school, i still was drawing and creating during my free time! i would honestly d*e before i give up that hobby, and i want my future to involve being able to draw and create.

so what does this all mean? i will continue with my plans to open my online store again, to table at local anime conventions, and to draw illustrations/small comics of characters like the Transformers Kotobukiya girls or of my original characters down the line. i am still working on my personal project with a friend behind-the-scenes to this day.

if you made it to the end of my open letter, thank you so much for taking the time to read this ❤️ it means a lot to me. cheers.

[morocosmos]

Writer Interview Game

Tagged by @arcaneoddity, tyyyy 💜

When did you start writing?

I noodled at an unfinished story or two when i was a kid (i drew comics a lot more tbh), the first fanfic i wrote was when i was 13 (it is consigned to ff.net, never to be perceived again). i started developing my writing during secondary school, we had to for english class but i genuinely enjoyed those assignments so much that it didn't feel like schoolwork lmao, it was smth of an outlet. i did write a couple of fics for other fandoms between 2016 and mid 2020, but in late 2020 FFXIV revived my desire to create, while @stellarfatalism and @lemoncakedesign's fics inspired me to actually start writing.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I read a much wider variety of smut than what i could be convinced to write. other than that i think they mostly overlap.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

@haillenarte, @rabbitprint and @sezja's fics have stuck with me the most in terms of "god i want to be able to write characters like this"....i've never been compared to another writer before, never even considered it and idk how i'd feel.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I was writing on openoffice at first, but their software has a tendency to crash when you press two keys too fast, for example when you. try to save your work. moved to gdocs to avoid that and so that i could continue working on fic on my phone, but i also use the notes app on there, mainly to get down ideas that i don't want running away or to write more freely. it's easier to be experimental and loose when i'm writing in notes, idk, whereas i prefer sitting at the desk and working on my computer when it's a longer fic or a more """important""" piece.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I've let it happen when it happens, for the most part. i was forcing myself to power through job around the time i really grew into writing, so i needed it to be a space where i wouldn't do it if i didn't want to. my feelings about that are more mixed now, because i'm a slow writer to begin with, and i can't help but wonder if more people would read my stuff if i updated more consistently. but i digress - the only time i've had to bring the muse in myself was for to sail your seas, and that was because there was accountability and a deadline. so i guess my most effective tricks are ADHD hacks and brainworms.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Until recently i didn't approach fic writing with themes in mind, when i get an idea it's usually about throwing a character at something and seeing what happens. that something tends to be another character, sometimes it's more existential like touch starvation. that said, i do have a WIP where i sat down and thought about what i want the themes to be before i know how it's going to pan out, but it's baby's first attempt so i don't have an answer to this question yet, really.

What is your reason for writing?

Processing things i know and exploring things i don't. when i got back into writing in 2020 it was extremely cathartic, i've burnt out on several creative pursuits over the years and having that spark come alive was, and is still very precious to me. i spent two years writing simply because i had ideas and a vice-grip compulsion to write them out. now that that's slowed down, i've started to think more about craft, and how i might try to hone that when i'm lowkey afraid of this stage of learning, and there's no formal institution to kick my ass into it. but in some ways, i think i write because i can't afford not to.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I've been told by a friend that i'm good at continuity, which is nice considering it lines up with the obsessive approach i take towards trying to tie plot/character threads together lol. personally, i still consider descriptive writing to be my greatest strength. it's what i keep going back to, maybe because it was the first thing i discovered i was good at that wasn't influenced by someone else's decision.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I miss the honeymoon period when i thought my writing was the hottest shit LOL. that tapered off towards the end of 2022, but it's not like i think my writing is bad now, just that over time i became more aware of my shortcomings, and how much knowledge and experience i lack. i did have to fight a little to keep my relationship with writing from souring last year, but in hindsight it was more about frustration that i didn't have the energy to write (work burnout wooo) than a problem with writing itself. after a year plus of stalling and big fic projects i just want to have fun again, be a bit silly.

[celaenaeiln]

Hi cl! I was wondering if you have or one day would make a recommended reading list for dick?

Yea!! I would love to!

For Robin- the best would be Batman 1940, Batman: Golden Age Omnibus, Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet, and Robin: Year One

Untainted by bored and desperate authors, the comics are genuinely funny and interesting and action packed. I love puns and humor and good fighting so Batman 1940 was top tier for me. Batman: Golden Age Omnibus I really liked Bruce and Dick's casual "you're like a brother-son-friend-partner" thing that flowed so naturally.

Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet and Robin: Year One show Dick's capabilities and and how excellent he is even though Batman 1940 shows that too, these are more recent. Whoever wrote The Gauntlet-I'm kowtowing to you. It's god tier work, thank you.

Batman and Robin, A Boy Wonder

I know this is a controversial one because of what Frank Miller makes Dick do but also I just considered it to be part of this universe's batman's psyche. But Frank Miller aside from this one can go suck it. I love everyone in it.

Robin and Batman by Jeff Lemire

This comic talks about Dick directly after his parents' passing. It shows how instead of angry like people think, he was mostly sad and lonely and how he and Batman both grew from this. Going from grief to the light of Batman's darkness that he's known to be.

The Detective Comics

It's Batman and Robin stuff but you know it's just like a progression of the Batman comics but different stories.

The World's Finest Comics both the 1941 and the new one.

Dick's relationship with the Titans and family- Batman: A lonely place of dying.

It takes place some time after Jason's death and shows how Tim joined the family. I love the way they wrote every character. I'm going to put up a post later about Dick and the Titans and this comic is quintessential to that. MUST. READ.

Want more incentive? It's all about Dick and Alfred's relationship and how they're the best father and son.

Dick's relationship with the Titans and Outsiders

Teen Titans (1966) - the silver age, og titans.

The New Teen Titans (1980)

The New Teen Titans: Judas Contract

The New Teen Titans (1984)

JLA/Titans

Titans Secret Files

Titans (1999)

Outsiders (2003)

Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files

Teen Titans Lost Annual

Titans (2008)

Titans Hunt

Titans (2016)

Titans United

Titans United: Bloodpact

Titans (2023)

World's Finest: Teen Titans

Nightwing Dick- Nightwing 1996 and 2011

Okay. I know people hate Chuck Dixon but honestly, I think he's one of the greatest Nightwing writers. With him, the writing felt continuous and fluent. It takes you from Dick being fired to the majority of his life. Every arc that was written was excellent because even when Dick was at his worst mentally, emotionally, and physically, he was a formidable foe. He's a tactical genius and one of the strongest fighters and Chuck Dixon put him through a lot but one thing he never did was nerf him. This was very good.

ACTUALLY NO- I LOVED THIS SPECTACULAR, MARVELOUS, BEAUTIFUL, EXTRAORDINARY, BRILLIANT WORK. LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS.

Nightwing 2011 will be one of my all time favorites. Undefeatable badass boy. The entirety of Nightwing 2016 has nothing on even a single panel from Nightwing 2011. Glorious work.

Batman Dick- Batman: Streets of Gotham

The things is, Dick was a very good Batman. Actually, he was an excellent Batman. Maybe it's because he's an excellent actor but the internal struggle he had was not outwardly shown when he was Batman thus effectively convincing the public that there was not a different man under the mask (They could only tell because he actually cared about people unlike Bruce). Actually I like him better than Bruce Batman because Dick's actions as Batman at that time were cooler than any Bruce has taken. I know it's hard to believe but this comic was fantastic in showcasing that.

Other top favorites- Nightwing: The New Order, Future State: Nightwing, and Grayson Comics

I'm literally going feral over New Order. Nightwing is the world's favorite (as expected) and has an entire army to himself. He also has a kid named Jake Grayson and JAKE IS THE CUTEST ADORABLEST KID EVER. I LOVE Kori but what I love even more is Dick is a single mom to Jake because Kori left and Jake loves Dick so much! I cried at the end because how badly I was moved.

Future State! Future State Gotham was trash. It was so bad I had to search for a trashcan to dry heave over because it's character assassination. That comic was so bad other DC authors just refused to acknowledge its existence. Future State: Nightwing showcases just how brilliant Dick is. Ever heard the saying, "There's method to my madness?" Dick always has a plan. It's only madness for those that don't understand the full scale of it.

Heh. Everyone hated the Grayson comics but honestly? I loved it. Dick was manipulative, talented, excellent fighter, and a spy. Every task he took he excelled in it. They said that Dick wasn't made for spying but they weren't talking about his skill set. They were talking about his emotions. Even Tiger- Spyral's number 1 asesst and spy- was outplayed by Dick multiple times. If Helena hadn't become Matron, Dick would've burned Spyral to the ground so completely not even ashes of the fire he had set would have been left as evidence for beetles to collect.

Batman/Nightwing: Bloodbourne

Pure fighting prowess. It reiterates the fact that Dick is undefeatable.

Batman and Robin (2009)

Dick!Bats and Damian's run as Batman and Robin. It sheds light onto the hardships of raising an assassin child. People think that Damian would just follow someone along and become good if they knew him earlier but you don't understand. Dick. Put. Work. Into. Damian. Their obsessed with each other relationship exists because Damian is fully aware of the amount of time, effort, and love Dick has given him and reciprocates that. He loves Dick beyond measure and will fight anyone who says even one word against him.

Batman and Robin Eternal

Really talks about Bruce's impact on Dick, Dick's impact on Bruce, family dynamics, batfamily working together, intelligence and fight skills of Dick Grayson. There's a couple plot holes in the middle with about 2-3 panels being wrong but everything else is so correct.

Convergence

Do you want to know how important Dick is in terms of the multiverse's perseverance and continuation? This one!

COMICS I HAVE READ A BILLION TIMES BECAUSE THEY'RE SO GOOD - DARK CRISIS, DARK CRISIS, DARK CRISIS!!!!

DARK CRISIS

DARK CRISIS

DARK CRISIS

I SAVORED every letter of that comic.

[wanderingmind867]

I don't even know if my comics hyperfixation is still ongoing, or if i'm just stagnating, unable to find any new interests to replace the old ones. I sort of feel inclined to say it's the second one there, but to explain why I feel that way requires me to go into the backstory on some things. Like how I feel I used to do more before I lost my old tablet. So let's try and run through all of that.

I had this Lenovo tablet, see? I must've gotten it around 2016 or something. I don't actually know, but it was with me for long enough that my young mind grew attached to it. I had like 500+ bookmarks on there. I used it consistently every day. It was my safe space. A big source of routine to me. Even before I made this tumblr account in 2021, I was a tumblr lurker. I explored dozens of blogs with that old tablet. I watched lots of youtube videos and playthroughs and stuff, I read lots of fanfiction and wikipedia pages and headcanons on blogs and stuff. I used it for many things, and I got attached.

Around 2021 (the same year i made this account), it began to not charge well. It began to behave more like it was on its last legs. But I kept using it, still holding on to the familiar. But in 2022 (the same year my mom died), the tablet stopped charging. Nothing we could do could save it. So now that i've lost it, it's all my brain thinks about. I always feel convinced i'd do more stuff if i just had my old tablet back. I can't prove that, but I can't disprove it. So i'm caught in a neverending cycle of stress over this. And I legitimately think I do less without it, to the extent that it's making my hyperfixations possibly change more slowly than ever. Again, I can't prove that. But my brain is hung up on it, and it's really messing with me.

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Hello , just wanna ask if you know more comics where he appears as Mr knight?

I had read the 2014-15 run, and the Lemire run, the 'deadpool kills marvel again' (mk got killed too early :/) and the 'marvel comics present' issue 4, I am also reading the current moon knight run, and also can I ask some music recommendation that I can listen to while reading, (sorry bad English)

I'm so happy and excited to see a Moon Knight question in my box! And your English is perfectly fine. Better than mine on a good day.

You know who you should totally give a follow to? @age-of-moonknight

This guy is amazing and a super Moon Knight fan. If you ask him for an image or what comic something appeared in, he'll get it for you. Like a walking Moon Knight Wikki.

Totally dug around in his archives for this.

THE FIRST appearance as Mr. Knight: Secret Avengers #19 Vol 1 (2010).

Just a little image or two, but it must have caught someone's eye because just a few years later when Moon Knight needed a jump start and new life we got:

Marvel Now: Moon Knight, Vol 8 (2014-2015) by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey.

All hail to the mighty Declan Shalvey.

Vol 1: From the Dead, Vol 2: Blackout (by Brian Wood), and Vol 3: In the Night (By Bullen Bunn).

I say OFFICIALLY because age-of-moon knight found a much earlier issue where Mr Knight sort of appeared off handedly in some random issue.

But officially, you'd need to read anything 2014 onwards to get actual Mr. Knight.

You see, after that, who could resist putting that beautiful suit in their art?

The trouble is finding ALL the other things he's appeared in randomly in the background.

I have my sources that atempts to list all the comics MK has ever apeared in, but even they are limited.

There are side things like "Original Sin event", but we all know how I feel about marvel events… (BOOOOO).

Then there's Deadpool's secret secret wars, but I can't tell you how prominantly MK, much less Mr. Knight appears in that either.

Of course we then jump right into All-New, All Different Marvel with Lemire's run. (2016-2017 and he isn't in any background comics at this time).

Smallwood slaps that scrunkle and suit together like it was made to be.

we aren't going to talk about Marvel Legacy which came right after. (I have a HUGE project I'm working on right now that's taking up a lot of painful time regarding Marvel Legacy run… Expect that to start coming otu soon. I'm sorry.)

BUT. During Legacy, we did see him start to pop up in other comics more.

Like the Marvel Comics Presents (2019) #4: This Benjamin Percy story is billed as “what happened next” after Marc “went completely insane and disappeared.”

Then there's Marvel Knights 2018 (not sure if he's Mr. Knight here… Maybe appears in like a page or two?).

Then we skip Age of Khonshu for reasons I've already ranted about…

And that brings us to current events in 2021 with Mackay.

There's also Doctor Strange Vol 6 Issue #2 (ALSO BY MACKAY)

Hope that helps a little?

As for music recommendations? I'm really bad at music recommendations. It really depends on what you like. Anyone want to sound off in the comments on what they listen to while reading Moon Knight?

I like Leonard Cohen if I'm feeling mellow. He's got an amazing old New York quality to his voice and he basically wrote poetry that he turned into songs about his experiences with love, life, being Jewish, and his experiences.

I also pop in songs that get mentioned in the comic, like "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen... Which Marc made into his alarm clock. And it also makes me think that Marc likes that style of music so I slap that playlist up on YouTube and let it go.

And that leads me down to The Cure, Depeche Mode, and Duran Duran for some reason.

Maybe it's because that was the age that Marc kinda grew up in, depending on what run you are reading.