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lilatreus · 4 years ago

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All of my thoughts on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla!

Of course there are major spoilers for the game and ending. I know it’s been out for like three months now but you never know so I’m putting it all under the cut. And yes this is pretty long. A summary is at the end of the entire text.

also pls don’t send me hate like y’all did for what I said about odyssey literally these are just my opinions on the game if u dont care for them pls just skip I have a lot to say about it and there is actually quite a few things that I really enjoyed when playing the game and if u do read it pls don’t hesitate to shoot me messages and talk to me about the game bc I really enjoy the franchise and I need some more people to talk to in this fandom.

What I enjoyed about the game!!

The blending in with the monks/prayers in the streets to get pass the guards!!!!! Dude!!!!! I know it’s like a really small detail but it just made me so happy because it reminded me of when you had to do that in the first assassin’s creed game. It’s a nice touch of nostalgia and really liked it.

The “glitches” (while some were annoying) I’m super super happy that they were kind of bringing back the glyphs from assassins creed two. I loved doing them because I loved trying to get the little movie. It was really nice of them to bring that back so we can get another little movie like the one from AC2 again.

I think we can all agree: Hytham was a great character. I wish he was more involved in the story than already but that’s just me. I really liked his character so much he’s my favorite from the game.

Desmond having some Easter eggs and basically coming back into the series again was great. It was also a nice touch to see the vault from assassins creed three (the place where des dies). It really makes me miss connor and his band of assassins. I miss assassins creed three :( I want more about Connor please put out some more comics with him in it or some easter eggs please I’m begging you. Also fuck u haytham kenway I hate u.

Shaun and Rebecca being back and now it’s canon that they’re together is fucking awesome. I’m actually really happy about that and I missed them so much. I’m glad they’re in the story again. (Rebecca dude I was so worried that she died like no fucking joke I was so upset I thought syndicate really killed her off).

The game itself actually did very well keeping with the lore we were given from assassins creed origins and was actually doing pretty well trying to connect it to the first assassin game.

Speaking of lore I do think they did the best they could to expand upon the not so well liked lore from odyssey and try and fix it but also it did feel a little confusing but I guess that’s just because i didn’t finish the Asgard missions yet so who knows.

The scenery was very very beautiful and I throughly enjoyed walking around and just admiring the view no matter where I was on the map.

Reda just becoming immortal is so funny and the fact that he was just sitting there telling stories about Aya and Bayek.. please my heart. I love them so so much. The letter Bayek wrote??? Soulmates I’m telling you.

Also I did like that they fixed their plot hole for why Bayek and Aya aren’t known for anything history wise in the story (or mainly why Bayek isn’t in the assassin’s history books and Aya, as Amunet, is really the only one written down). I’m very glad that they explained it and I really think I’m just super happy that Bayek was brought back for some easter eggs within the game.

Basim is very handsome and I liked him but I don’t know how to feel about the ending with him. Yes I do love his character and it was super cool to hang around him and do a couple of missions with him but also it felt weird that now you’re technically playing as the bad guy.

Eivor was really cool to play as. I enjoyed running around as them and doing missions. I like the fact that Eivor was basically like “yo you guys [ pointing to the brotherhood ] are fucking crazy but you guys [ pointing to the templars/order of ancients ] are really fucking crazy and weird.” I really loved basically being an assassin and using the hidden blade again. (Yeah I know they technically aren’t an assassin but yknow just an honorary one).

The Canterbury Tales!! The fucking pardoner’s tale!! That was super cool to do I loved those stories and being able to do them in the game made me super happy. I know it doesn’t actually fit the timeline given it wasnt written until like centuries after the game took place but I just thought that side mission was neat!

Fulke was a very cool templar and I thought her character was really really interesting. I wish they did more with her honestly.

What I didn’t like about the game:

So! Speaking of templars! Boy oh boy I have a lot to say for that subject. So for “the order of ancients”:

— I think my biggest problem with this game (as well as odyssey) is that the templars (“OOA”) aren’t actually important to the game anymore. They’re barely in the story now like out of all 20 or so people you have to kill within their order only like 5 or 6 are actually important to the storyline and that’s my biggest problem with it, because now killing the templars is just like a “well since you’re in the area you can kill this dude” and I really hate it. I truly believe that’s why I didn’t like odyssey that much solely bc they made doing the most core part of the video game series a damn side mission and that also goes for Valhalla.

— Also so many of the templar stories, like scenes we get after you kill them, were just so bland. They don’t make them like they used to and that’s another big core part of the series lost.

— They’re straying very far from the main plot of the series and that’s why these last two games didn’t feel anything like an assassin’s creed game. (And you can’t say that “it’s just different because they’re taking place in a time way before the templars were called templars” bc assassins creed origins did very well to changing their game and how they play but also keeping the main goal from previous games: To be an assassin and kill the templars.)

— Also they need to not show us the outline of who the templars are because I could tell who “the father” was as soon as I was able to see the order tab. Please Ubisoft do better.

I know I said this before however the fucking Beowulf mission. My God Did I Hate That. I was really looking forward to the dlc and to see what they did with the story sucked. In Odyssey we got actual Greek monsters and gods and I expected to be given that in Valhalla for the norse deities. And it didn’t happen. (As of right now I can’t comment on the Asgard missions because I haven’t finished them but I’ll probably edit the post and put them in later)

As of right now with the ending and lore shit I’m really kind of indifferent with it. On one hand they are trying to fix the lore that they kind of fucked up in Odyssey by adding more things to explain it better but also that means they added on unnecessary stuff that makes no sense. On the other hand I really hate that Layla is now technically canonically dead because shes now in the grey and basim now has the one thing that would’ve kept her alive. I really wanted them to do more with her like they did with Desmond. I genuinely enjoyed her as a main protagonist and it sucks that she is now dead. Layla deserves so much better honestly!!!!

Also on des: While I don’t want to smack away a fan service gift that includes desmond; it did kind of feel weird that he’s back in the series. Honestly I don’t know how to go about this. I’m super excited that technically desmond is back in a way but on the other hand I wanted them to focus on Layla more and :( Idk man it’s complicated. They have to stop changing the story’s main protagonists Layla deserved to be in more games and hopefully she will be because her “death” felt so cheap. I also wish they explained what happened with her during the year apart from odyssey and Valhalla.

The side missions I have no problem with except for the fact that the little side mission icon just stayed in the place you first show up to to get the mission. I miss the old side mission mechanic bc this new one felt really really confusing and it made me get lost quite a few times.

This one might just be me but I guess they’re expanding more on the gods reincarnating but they’re not focusing on the sages anymore? Like when will Elijah Miles (the newest sage) be shown?? Odyssey fucked up that lore bit but now they’re not even talking about it because any isu god can reincarnate or can take ahold of anyone if they interact with a piece of eden or something. Idk this one little bit is super confusing for me right now and I don’t like that it’s confusing so I will be doing more research on the isu (again) to understand what the fuck is going on with this damn part of the lore.

I know that this is a game where you kill people but this whole game felt so gore-y that I like had to drop it for a bit. Like dude I didn’t really expect that. This one I really feel like is just me. I did not expect to like hear bones breaking when I played it.

The storyline felt kind of all over the place like yes I could understand the big part of the story but also it was all over the fucking place. I just miss the old plot I really do that had a system that was so good it caused several games to follow it’s lead. (I miss AC1 please remaster that damn game)

Also maybe it’s just me but the story felt so slow at the beginning when ur going to England. Literally I hate to say this bc I love this whole series but I was more happy about finally finishing the main storyline than I was while playing the game.

All in all: I did like the game. I did have fun even though some parts were rough. I’m super glad that they got rid/fixed the ship mechanic because I hated every fucking naval battle in assassins creed and that’s something I was worried about doing when I saw that we had longships in the story. The game was enjoyable and it had a lot of great side characters like Hytham, Gunnar, and Yanli. Basim was a treat, though I hope they explain more about him bc I’m going to be honest he’s a bit confusing with this whole loki thing. But yeah this is all I have so far on the game. If you actually read all the way down here comment or like shoot me message to talk about it bc I really really want to talk about the game. Pls pls pls.

#assassin's creed valhalla #ac valhalla #assassins creed #eivor wolfsmal #layla hassan #desmond miles #assassins creed origins #assassins creed odyssey #I’m tagging those two bc I do talk about it within the entire text #I really hope these make sense bc if not they’re just going to sound like ramblings by a crazy person

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softlass27 · 4 years ago

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So... I had a couple of comments on my Robron foster parenting fic from last week, asking for more of this universe. I don’t know if I’ll ever properly write it as a full story, but what I do have are some little character profiles for each of the kids mentioned, as well as their ages when the Home Farm move takes place :)

Seb (11)

So Aaron and Robert had many (so many) discussions about – and with – Seb before they started fostering. They were initially very worried about the risk of Seb feeling neglected or sidelined by them bringing more children – some of whom may require extra care and attention – into the home. Robert was especially concerned about this, considering his own bad experiences when his parents took in Andy.

But Seb, being the good (fantastic) kid that he is, takes it all in his stride. For the most part, he loves having a big family, even if its not the most conventional. He was already pretty mature for his age, so he understands why sometimes the other kids might need some extra support with things. Before he came to live in Emmerdale permanently, his home life with Ross and Rebecca wasn’t exactly stable (thank god his dads got him out of there – he has a feeling that’s what gave them the fostering idea in the first place), so he knows a little of what it’s like to come from a difficult environment.

As much as he’s cool with his living situation, he does occasionally ask for a bit of one-on-one time with his dads, which they will go above and beyond to give him no matter what’s going on with the family.

Rather enjoys being the eldest – and therefore the leader – of the bunch. Aaron says he gets that from Robert.

Very witty for his age, and never without a good comeback. Robert says he gets that from Aaron.

Really likes cooking with Robert, and has been ever since he was just a wee boy.

Once showed his parents a 10-slide powerpoint presentation on why he and Eddie should get a super-cool race car bunkbed from Ikea.

Eddie (10)

Eddie is, well… loud. A chaotic boy. But a very sweet one.

He has ADHD, so he struggles a little at school and gets into trouble every now and then (mainly for talking), but for the most part his teachers can’t help taking a liking to him.

Eddie loves attention, but he’s harmless in the way he seeks it. Telling jokes, presenting pictures he’s drawn (he loves comic books and often likes to create his own), showing off a new trick on his bike or skateboard. It’s rare for his foster family to go longer than a day without someone hearing him shout, “Hey, watch this!” Aaron and Robert often have to gently remind him to use his inside voice, and not to railroad the others when they’re trying to say something or pick an activity.

More than anything, Eddie just wants to be noticed. He never got much of that with his mum, who fails to turn up for their supervised visits more often than not. It’s agonising for Aaron and Robert to watch him be let down by her over and over again, trying so hard to cover up his hurt by shrugging and saying it doesn’t matter, then acting like there’s nothing wrong by throwing himself into playing video games with Seb as soon as they get home. But one of them will normally find him curled up crying a few hours later, and it takes lots of cuddles, ice cream and a super hero movie to make him feel better.

Eddie’s only six months younger than Seb, which Robert was initially worried about (again, his memories of Andy coming into play there), but the two of them are thick as thieves. They’re kind of chalk and cheese personality-wise, but they actually balance each other out pretty well.

Will do literally any dare he’s given. This has led to more than one trip to A&E and more than one grey hair for Robert.

Theme parks are his favourite places in the world.

Would live on pizza if he could.

Clumsy as hell. Never put anything breakable in Eddie’s reach.

Lottie (7)

Lottie is by far the shyest, quietest of the kids. She didn’t bring any toys or games with her, but she did bring a small backpack of books that she clung onto like a lifeline. This gave Robert (as we all know, an avid reader) something to bond over with her, and he soon discovered that a way to get Lottie talking was to ask her which books she likes.

The answer, as it happens, is anything fantasy-based. The Narnia series, The Hobbit, Peter Pan, most fairy tales… anything with some magic and maybe a princess and she’s sold. They have a feeling her books have been a bit of an escape from reality for her in the past, so they make sure her bedroom has a nice little bookcase so she can keep them close.

Her favourite thing after reading is playing in the garden or around the village. Sometimes with the others but again, she’s quite happy in her own little world. Before coming to live in Emmerdale, she’d been brought up in a cramped flat in a city centre, surrounded by traffic and concrete. So living in somewhere like the Yorkshire Dales (and all the space that comes with it) is a total novelty to her. She takes to it like a duck in water though, loves the green fields and the streams and the animals. She’ll spend hours running around in the dirt (usually spreading it all over the house when she gets home, too) and becomes a proper country girl. Robert gets her the complete Beatrix Potter collection, combining her two loves.

Because she’s so content with her nose in a book, Aaron and Robert do have to prompt her to join in with the others sometimes. But once she’s been given a nudge, she’ll usually put down whatever she’s reading and interact with her foster family. She does like having fun with the others, she just likes to have her space, too.

Aaron and Robert have lost her in Waterstones more than once.

The biggest cuddler, and the most likely to crawl into Aaron and Robert’s bed on a weekend morning.

A huge fan of beans on toast, and therefore prefers Aaron’s cooking to Robert’s.

Cannot do maths. Will never be able to get the hang of maths. Thinks maths is the stupidest thing ever invented.

Has just one or two friends at school and likes it that way.

Takes it upon herself to be the one to read Tasha’s bedtime story most nights.

Mike (6)

Mike was initially the most… difficult in terms of behaviour. He was too small to do much damage, but his first few weeks with them involved a fair bit of biting and scratching, and he got very easily wound up. Lots of tears and mood swings.

Aaron was so good with him. Robert was too, but from the beginning Aaron had a real knack for calming Mike down when he was distressed. It took several months to really get him settled (he tried to run away more than once – not that he got very far in their tiny village), but with a lot of patience and the right support, they figured it out in the end.

Now Mike is much calmer, and much happier. He still has his moments, but he never lashes out like violently like he used to. He gets some additional help from the school, and Aaron and Robert both have a lot of meetings with his teachers to check in on everything.

As mentioned in the original fic, he’s really not great with the dark. But they’ve managed to work their way from him needing the big light on at night, to his bedside lamp, down to a single nightlight, so he’s getting there.

Absolutely idolises Eddie, and tries to copy everything he does. Aaron and Robert are both praying this hero worship will transition from Eddie to Seb, just so they can have a slightly easier life.

Also adores their ginger tabby cat, Pumpkin (named by Seb when they got her one October). All the kids love her, but she and Mike have a Special Connection, and when he gets home from school, he will not rest until he’s tracked Pumpkin down, snuggled up with with her and told her all about his day. He finds her purrs very calming.

Loves a good LEGO model. Him and Robert will spend hours on them.

Karate-obsessed. He’s been into it every since his first lesson, but has to be told more than once that he is not to try out any moves on his foster siblings.

Will inevitably lose most things. Toys, gloves, crayons, homework, shoes (one time while he was wearing them – Aaron and Robert still can’t work that one out)… he simply cannot keep track of where anything is.

Hates reading and never picks up a book unless he has to for English homework. Lottie is scandalised by this. Scandalised.

Natasha (Tasha) (4)

The baby of the group, and the youngest Aaron and Robert have ever fostered, which they were initially a little hesitant about. When they first brought her home just after she’d turned 3, she had very limited speech for a child her age. Even her crying was near-silent.

But with time, effort, and some speech therapy, she comes along leaps and bounds. Once she starts picking words up from her foster parents (as well as the nonstop chatter from the other kids), she doesn’t stop, it’s amazing how fast she gets the hang of it. Now it’s a miracle if they can get her to stop talking.

A very big fan of Postman Pat.

Will do almost anything for a chocolate biscuit.

Steals Aaron’s hoodies and uses them as blankets.

Has the biggest eyes anyone has ever seen, and her foster parents are dreading the day she works out that this helps her get away with stuff.

Can usually be seen wearing fairy wings.

Likes to sit on the floor and watch the washing machine when it’s on.

#yeah apologies if this isn't the most coherent #it's late and i'm rambling #but i'm already so attached to these babies!#robron #fostering au #my writing #also i should mention i have no direct experience with fostering #or being fostered #just putting that out there incase of any inaccuracies!

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irrevocably-delicious · 6 years ago

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A Brief History of LGBT+ Characters and Why the Death of Adam in Voltron is Worth Being Upset About

So uh.... Good morning.

So I think it’s pretty obvious by now that the reception to season 7 has been less than... good. The fan base has been shattered. People are upset, angry, and abandoning this series in droves (I’ve lost over 50 followers as I write this, just from people no longer wanting anything to do with this show) and have been incredibly vocal as to the reason why.

They killed Adam.

After two weeks of receiving praise for the relationship that was revealed at San Diego Comic Con, fans discovered on Friday night that Adam’s existence would be short lived, further contributing to this popular “Bury Your Gays” trope.

And I’ve seen people confused at this outcry. They don’t understand why people are so upset at this tiny side character’s death. What’s the big deal, right? It’s war! There’s supposed to be casualties!

And to that kind of response I have to narrow my eyes and go:

“Oh.... maybe you understand the history of this.”

Because it is a history. A rich one. “Bury your gays” isn’t a trope in the same why that “Fake dating” is a trope. It’s not popular out of coincidence and I feel like many people are ignorant of that, which is FAIR! Because most voltron fans are young, most tumblr users are young, so I don’t expect you to be watching documentaries on LGBT+ cinema in between studying for your chemistry exams.

So that’s where I come in. Buckle in children as I take you on a journey on why the “Bury your gays” trope exists, and the harmful ramifications that it has had on the LGBT+ community since its inception.

So lets go back. Way back to the 1920′s when homosexuality, or at least homosexuality adjacent themes were seen on screen.

A time where a bro could kiss his bro, and it was seen as heart wrenching and realistic (Wings, 1927). A time where Marlene Dietrich could wear a suit better than a man, and flirt and kiss a lady just because she fucking could (Morocco, 1930). A time where gender roles were a bit looser, and there wouldn’t be an outcry over such imagery.

But as the great depression continued, and film producers became desperate to get butts in seats at the cinema, these LGBT+ themes became outright explicit. Raunchy even. Used for titillation and shock value.

“Have you seen that new picture, Doris? The one where the roman emperor has the hot male sex slave?? Mmmmm scandalous!”

But with this rise of LGBT+ characters and interactions used for shock value, also came the rise of public outcry. The catholic church (those debbie downers) started boycotting films. This lead to the formation of the PRODUCTION CODE, which is a fancy way to say THE CODE THAT WILL NOW CENSOR THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR FILMS in 1934.

Backed by catholic activists, the code made it impossible for LGBT+ representation to exist on film.

But did they?? See, this is actually were we start to see the development of “Queer coding”. Where actors and directors got savvy, and let you know a character was gay, whilst never explicitly stating so. It was subtle enough that it got past censors, but clear enough that audience members, especially LGBT+ people, got clued in.

Yeah Peter Lorre, you put that phallus shaped object next to your mouth a lot. They’ll get what your implying, don’t you worry.

Oh, I’m sorry.... did i say you couldn’t have LGBT+ characters?? My mistake, you totally fucking could. Explicitly even.... if they were the villain. Religious people were totally cool if the villain in your film was LGBT+, because to them, that��s what LGBT+ people were.... villains.

Film’s like Rebecca, Dracula’s Daughter, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope all centre around truly horrifying and despicable villains... who are all gay. LGBT+ villains became such a staple in horror films during this time that it lead to a whole near character archetype! We have the damsel in distress, the heroic soldier, the wise old man, now welcome the rise of the:

PSYCHO QUEER.

Yikes.

But why I’m talking about this so much is because this popularity in LGBT+ villains is what creates the “Bury your Gays” trope.

Because the villains.... always die.

It’s their comeuppance. Their karma. Of course bad people will die and the heroes will go one to live a happy life! But what crime are we punishing these villains for?

The message these movies gets across to their audiences is that “If you are gay, you are a bad person... and bad people deserve to die”. Because Gay and villain were so synonymous with each other, they become one in the same, and as we all know by now REPRESENTATION MATTERS.

This influences how society views LGBT+ people, so that in 1952, when the PRODUCTION CODE of YOU BETTER NOT CONDONE ANYTHING SINFUL IN HERE BECAUSE JESUS DOESN’T LIKE THAT is torn down, things still don’t get much better for LGBT+ representation.

LGBT+ characters no longer have to be villains, but society is still not super cool with LGBT+ people, so now we get a new archetype: The self hating tragic gay character. And often? These characters kill themselves, such as in 1961′s The Children’s Hour. Because this is palatable to audiences who do not condone homosexuality in any way, but watching an LGBT+ struggle with themselves? Watching them become overwhelmed by guilt and hatred until they decide that death is the only way out? How tragic! How cursed they are! How pitiful! How... marketable.

But to see LGBT+ characters end up happy? Audiences at this time would not have stomached it, because to them, being LGBT was immoral and these characters were not deserving of happiness. A good analogy might be how modern audiences would view a film with a drug addict character in it. The addict either succumbs to their addiction and dies tragically, or they “Go straight” and have a happy ending. For these audiences in the 50s and 60s the only happy ending was a straight ending.

Then in 1969 we get the Stonewall Riots, and in the 1970s things actually look alright.

That is until the 1980s and society finds a new reason to hate, fear and vilify LGBT+ people. The AIDS crisis wipes out lives and almost all positive representation in the media. This fear is echoed in film as LGBT+ people become villains again. Sleepaway Camp and Cruising are such examples.

The 90′s are better. Whilst mainstream cinema is still vilifying LGBT+ in the 80s, more positive independent films still exist, and the success of the 1991 documentary Paris is Burning prompts Hollywood to go “Hey... maybe we can get some money if we pander to these LGBT+ folks”.

There is a brief period in the 90s where gay comedies like The Birdcage, In and Out, and To Wong Foo are allowed to exist. They’re comedies. The stereotypes are played for laughs, but there is a level of joy and care with these movies where even though these characters are making us laugh... for once we’re not laughing at them. We love these characters. We want them to succeed. No. One. Dies.

It smells like progress. Finally.

Or at least it would. Because these films also exist in the same decade that Philadelphia wins Oscars and the musical Rent is winning Tonys. Both of these deal with the tragedy of the AIDS crisis and have main characters die from the disease. Am I going to point out that Rent has four characters suffering from AIDS, but the only one to die is the Trans-coded poc gay man? Yes. Yes I am. Meanwhile the heterosexual couple suffering from AIDS gets a happy ending.

Interesting.

I hate you Rent. I hate you so goddamned much.

Also the 90s sees a good return to queer-coding villains. It’s always been there. It’s never really gone away, but I need to talk about the queer coding of 90′s villains because I’m sure all of you will actually recognise them.

Ah. There They are. Queer coding and Disney have a very rich history, which MANY articles have been written on. One might even say that it’s a... tale as old as time.

Mmmm no thank you.

But why it is so rampant, particularly in animated films, is because the films have a limited run time.

“We need to convince the audience that these characters are villains IMMEDIATELY. We don’t really have the time to waste on developing them and showing all their evil actions. We need audiences to believe when we tell them that these characters are bad. how do we do that?”

“.... make them kinda gay??”

That’s not actually how the conversation went in the board room, I’m sure, but it’s a very reduced down version. Because of the history of LGBT+ villains in the early years of cinema, animation relies on the stereotypes of villainous characters... well unfortunately those villains of old were LGBT+, so now we have LGBT+ stereotypes being passed on to new villains.

Anyway, my point is that almost all Disney villains die. Sorry that’s where I was going with this. Most of them die. The “Bury your Gays” trope is repeated here because of the villain’s queer coding. It’s not obvious, but the subtext is “Hey, if you’re a bit effeminate or do things outside of your strict gender role? Mmmmmm you deserve to die.”

“Bury your Gays” continues in modern media. Despite the importance of Brokeback Mountain, which explicitly shows a romance and intimacy between two men... Jake Gyllenhaal’s character still dies, and it’s implied that it may be due to a hate crime.

We see it in television. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Downton Abbey, Arrow, there was a massive outcry over the trope in The 100 when a female character, after just entering an intimate relationship with another female character, is killed off seemingly senselessly.

The LGBT+ community is tired of only seeing themselves killed for shock value, character growth, or tragedy. Even Ru Paul’s Drag Race has come under fire in recent years for seemingly exploiting its contestants traumatic histories for ratings.

This is why this year’s Love, Simon was so important. The film portrays an adolescent gay character as he struggles with being open with his sexuality and finding a meaningful relationship. Simon is portrayed as a sympathetic character. He’s the hero.

And he gets a happy ending.

This is why Korrasami, a same-sex relationship in children’s media, is so important. It shows two girls achieving their happy ending together.

It’s why in the same year that Steven Universe portrays a same sex wedding, Adam’s death feels like such a step backwards.

The producers have stated that Adam’s death was supposed to raise the stakes of the season, it was supposed to make viewers realise the severity of the situation and overcome them with a feeling of loss, but Adam’s death doesn’t just fail the LGBT+ fans... it fails to effect viewers emotionally.

Because audiences can’t mourn a character that they have no connection with.

Most of Adam’s character was developed in interviews and not in the show, where he only spoke for one scene. The creators talked about the deep relationship between Adam and Shiro, but none of that is actually visible in the series. Taking the season at face value, Adam is just some guy who’s connected to Shiro that is killed off unceremoniously. He wasn’t even given the dignity of hero’s death, taking out even one enemy before he died. That’s what hurts the most.

His death is meaningless. It does nothing. It’s pointless.

But of course “There’s still Shiro, right?”, which is true. Shiro still exists and is confirmed a mlm, which is important, but it’s understandable why fans may not be satisfied with this. Let’s take a closer look at Shiro.

I often joke with my friends that Voltron should be renamed Shiro Suffers: The Series, because out of all the characters in the show, Shiro has definitely endured and been subjected to the worst (you could argue that Allura has, but Shiro has the joy of being tortured emotionally and physically, so I feel he wins).

The writers have tried to kill him numerous times, with only toy sales saving him. He’s been beaten, tortured, terminally ill, killed, revived, possessed and used... it’s a lot. In the old days, I used to ship shallura, not really out of feeling a real romantic connection between the characters, but just because I wanted Shiro to have someone. Someone to help support him. Someone he could open up about his struggles with. The paladins mean a lot to Shiro, but because he is their surrogate guardian, he cannot open up to them like this. He cannot show the paladins weakness, and we see this in how he keeps his disease a secret from Keith, because he does not want to burden Keith with his struggle.

The introduction of Adam wasn’t just exciting because of the potential of seeing a caring LGBT+ relationship, but because it gave fans hope that Shiro would have someone. There was the potential that Shiro might finally gain some kind of supportive relationship outside of his strict roles of “leader” and “guardian”.

Adam’s death removes that possibility. Despite how caring, generous, strong, intelligent, kind, patient and capable Shiro is written... his life is fucking awful. It’s very telling that in the final scene of the season, when every other paladin is in the hospital surrounded by their family and loved ones, Shiro is alone. He’s on a stage, giving a rousing speech to a crowd, still trapped in this role as an inspirational leader.

God, they don’t even let Shiro mourn Adam. Does he feel guilty that he was the one who supposed to die, whilst Adam lived, but now their roles are reversed?We’ll never know. Adam’s death doesn’t even give some insight into Shiro’s character. It’s truly pointless.

Season 7 of Voltron has made it clear that this is not a kids show. This is a serious show with dark themes. The writers want it to be taken more seriously.

Then I will critique it more seriously.

While I strongly doubt it was intentional, season 7 perpetuates the age old message “If you are LGBT+, you will not achieve a happy ending.” The “Bury your Gays” trope is steeped in a history of oppression, censorship, and vilification. When Adam dies, you’re not just seeing a character die, but you’re seeing the series make a conscious decision to participate in this oppressive trope. And it stings even more because the series sets two heterosexual relationships to potentially end in happiness, whilst the LGBT+ relationships have already ended in tragedy.

Why Adam? Why not literally anyone else? We had no connection to him, so it’s not like they could have used a handful of other characters for the same effect. (Kill James. Fuck that guy. And he’s young so it really would have hurt.)

And that’s what you have to question. This is why fans are upset.

I’m not writing this to convince anyone to boycott the show, or plead with you to stop watching. That’s up to you and your own belief system. I definitely do not condone harassing the writers or voice actors.

I just want people to understand why fans are so upset over season 7, and that they have every right to be. To state that the outcry is just because “fans didn’t see their ships become canon” is dismissive and cruel. Adam and Shiro’s relationship was heavily used in marketing by Netflix, so much so that you could call it queer-baiting. It was hyped at SDCC and explained as this deep and meaningful relationship, whilst the producers knew what Adam’s fate would be the whole time.

I know producers have to answer to higher ups. I know the crew were largely on edge about what would get approved and what would not.

But the point remains... they still made this conscious choice. Fans don’t have to be happy about it. They shouldn’t be.

I have no idea what season 8 will bring, and at this point I feel like it might be a mess. But I encourage fans to support each other and be vocal about why you’re upset. You can’t change this show, but there’s hope that another series could learn from this.

History repeats. Until we don’t let it.

#voltron #vld #voltron spoilers #adashi #shadam #discourse #negativity #q slur #takashi shirogane #this took a while

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theliterateape · 4 years ago

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I Like to Watch | True Crime Television

by Don Hall

Traveling to Kansas for Christmas during a raging pandemic was a balancing act between stupid, reckless, and necessary.

Dana and I struggled with the decision. We spent Christmas last year at the casino I was working at and Joe came out from Chicago to play. I had to work, Dana and Kelli got a room at the West, and we FaceTimed with my family. It was weird. I had never, in my life, worked on Christmas Day. With a few notable exceptions, I had rarely spent Christmas Day apart from my family.

A couple of factors came in play when making the decision to travel to Kansas during a pandemic as the odds of contracting the virus increased by the day.

First, my dad is in precarious health. A cancer in his marrow has been sitting quietly for years and is always a threat. In the past year, he has suffered kidney failure and is on dialysis three times a week. The idea that I would miss his last Christmas for almost any reason was horrifying.

Second, my sister's youngest son died this past April. We flew up and helped her for a week but this was the first Christmas she was to endure while still grieving.

Yet there was this virus.

We decided that, if we were diligent about our masks and social distancing even within homes in Kansas, stay with my sister (who is a high school government teacher and has been online for months now), and make sure we were COVID-free before the trip, we were willing to take the risk.

It was worth it. As of this writing no one has the virus in my immediate family so we did our job and the trip was wonderful.

My sister, anticipating that Dana and I would be picky about what television we watched, binged on her favorite genre, True Crime. Turns out, Dana and I are just fine with True Crime, so we spent more than a normal amount of time watching salacious documentaries and dramatic recreations demonstrating the ugly face of human beings during a holiday known for its celebration of the best faces.

‌On the morning of July 13, 2011, 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau was found hanging naked and bound from her wealthy boyfriend’s Coronado mansion. Authorities were quick to rule the death a suicide, but strange clues found at the scene — including an eerie message scrawled in black paint on a nearby door — convinced her family that she had died by someone else’s hand.

When college-age men began showing up dead in bodies of water across the country, many of the deaths initially appeared to be accidental drownings. But a team of retired NYPD detectives led by veteran Detective Kevin Gannon believe there may be a more sinister explanation for the deaths after noticing in nearly all the cases smiley face graffiti has been found near the body.

In the dead of the night, eight people were shot “execution-style” in a brutal family massacre that left a small rural Ohio town reeling and questioning who could have carried out the cold-blooded murder of an entire family. For more than two years, they were no answers until a shocking series of arrests of another prominent family in Piketon suggested a possible growing feud between two families, who had once been close friends.

This stuff is grisly, man.

My mom and I used to have a disagreement about the nature of man. She believed that we are essentially good creatures who get seduced by the dark side. I believe that one afternoon spent with a two-year old tells the opposite tale. Children, when left alone, tend to be greedy, self-centered, narcissistic, violent. Adults are merely children who have learned to lie better about these innate impulses.

Spend a few hours watching true crime documentaries (and a few more hours watching public outrage videos) and its easy to see which narrative is more accurate.

One of the most erroneous concepts to follow these types of stories is that someone who murders his wife and kids, shoots up a school, kills her co-worker and stuffs pieces of the body in mason jars to be distributed through a gruesome Etsy store are insane. That these outliers are mentally ill.

I disagree. If horrifying behavior against our fellow humans is an indicator of mental illness, then we're all batshit crazy. Like the antiracism argument, if everyone white is racist regardless of actions or intent, then the term racist has no meaning (or at least no bearing on societal solutions). If everyone is nuts, then nuts is the default.

"That guy who got some trim and shot his wife in the head to get the comic book insurance is not normal" is a cop-out that lets the rest of us off the hook and creates a zone of denial surrounding our own behavior. These people aren't crazy, they simply thought they could get away with it like when you pilfered the stapler from your workplace or used your phone to take a covert photo of your sexy co-worker so you could go jack off to it in the stall of the McDonald's bathroom.

True Crime is not so much a genre of how terrible some people can be. It is a genre that acts as the mirror to society as it is rather than as we hope it is.

Traveling to Kansas during a global pandemic was insane. For all our justifications and precautions, we made the trip because we thought we could get away with it consequence-free, no more and no less.

Given that no one in my family throughout the holiday is suffering from COVID symptoms, we got away with it.

#I Like to Watch #True Crime

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tethrarisms · 6 years ago

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A list of good LGBT representation in cartoons for people who were insulted by Voltron

Yo, since Voltron ruined every single chance of doing a good job at LGBT representation, I offer you GOOD development and representation on other cartoons that is not only limited to final credits.

Gravity Falls - Deputy Durland and Sheriff Blubs

Even though Disney execs forbid Alex Hirsch of inserting LGBT characters, especially at S02E09 “The Love God” (where the Cupid would make two background women fall in love), he managed to create a slow burn between Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland, since fans were noticing something could emerge from their relationship. Yes, it’s canon.

Adventure Time - Princess Bubblegum and Marceline Abadeer

After 10 long seasons of drama between these two, they were finally together at the last episode. If you like slow burn, angst and mutual pinning, you’re gonna love Bubbline.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power - Netossa and Spinnerella/ Adora and Catra

While Netossa and Spinnerella are characters already introduced as a canon couple that shares a lovely complicity, Adora and Catra’s relationship is way deeper and more dramatic. Catra’s feelings after being abandoned by the protagonist she loves lead her to an antagonist role, the main dynamics of the series. While we still don’t know what will happen for the next seasons, it’s clearly Noelle Stevenson is creating a tension fuelled by love and hate between the main female characters.

Steven Universe - Ruby and Sapphire (Garnet)

Queen of LGBT representation, Rebecca Sugar developed an entire show dedicated to queer characters. Garnet is a stable fusion between Ruby and Sapphire and, while we always knew they were a couple, they finally managed to marry and kiss the last season. We are also presented to other LGBT characters that still don’t have a canon relationship, which means we still can have a slow burn development (such as Lapis and Peridot; Pearl and S., etc).

Honorable mentions

BoJack Horseman: this adult show presents us with a polirelationship, plus a main asexual character, Todd Chavez, who is slowly learning about his orientation. Yolanda Buenaventura is also asexual and shared a relationship with Todd for a short time. Rick and Morty: despite all polemics, Rick is canonically pansexual. Morty is also seen being proposed by Mr. Poopybutthole before having his memory erased. Yuri!!! on Ice: a touching-hearted anime that displays the evolution of Yuuri and Viktor’s relationship as they train to revive Yuuri’s career as a skater. Their interaction is as subtle as evident, open to free interpretation. Yet, they even share rings. Sailor Moon: the famous mahou bishoujo displays a sutble yet canon relationship between Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. The dubbed version censored them as “cousins”, so it’s recommended to watch the original japanese version of the show. Marvel Rising - Secret Warriors: following the comics, America Chavez came from another dimension which was destroyed. In order to save their daughter, her two mothers sent her to Earth-616. America’s also LGBT, though the movie doesn’t display a love interest for her. Star vs the Forces of Evil: even though there isn’t any self-proclaimed queer main characters, it was the first cartoon that ever displayed a kiss between two same-sex characters.

Future shows that I’m counting will display queer characters: The Owl House. The creator, Dana Terrace, has worked on Gravity Falls and directed 2007 Duck Tales. She has revealed she’s bisexual and is always fighting for LGBT representation in cartoons. Luz, one of the protagonists, seems to be non-binary.

The ending of Voltron CANNOT be considered a good LGBT representation. It failed and disappointed us. Therefore, let’s praise these shows for they deserve way more affection and love than Voltron ever did. Let’s put our minds and efforts on people who care about representation.

Please feel free to add more shows to this list. Let’s make a network of love and respect!

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batstickblog · 5 years ago

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People think i am sexist or a misogyny, honestly supports women maybe not social justice feminist why (ish). Supposed women in all works Political, Science,Officer’s,Military,Doctors,Music,Sports,Filmmakers,Acting,Comedy,Gamer Designer’s and even course of animation. Grew up watch anime and animation like show and movies made and directing by males even play games and read couple of books, comics and manga made by males also but women i supposed and be inspired and aspiring to writers and do voice acting like Helen Oyeyemi, Jill Thompson, Gail Simone,Grey DeLisle,Cree Summer, Kimberly Brooks, Mariska Hargitay and lots more (don’t have favorites histories women? But do found who my favorite)

Animation is my favorite grew up with, but over time some shows kind like are anime or animation shows made female creators found fun and enjoyable to watch, get no problems with that! Actually few be inspirational to be a writer, voice actor and influence be to created series i have been trying to work and full flesh out details and characters out and world building. Admire their works and fans of their series like Steven Universe or She-Ra (those are my favorites) and even my favorite childhood anime are Fullmetal Alchemist and InuYasha are among my favorites anime like all-time and main characters can relate to...So to both Mrs. Arakawa and Takahashi “Thank You” two also Faust and Sugar as well also much Ms. Rebecca Sugar (@rebeccasugarr) Past Story Artist, Writer, & Music-maker for 'Adventure Time'. Creator of 'Steven universe' Voice of Marceline's Mom in 'Adventure Time: Stakes'.

Ms. Natasha Allegri Past Storyboard Revisionist & Character Designer for 'Adventure Time'. Creator of 'Fionna & Cake' and 'Bee & Puppycat'. Character Designer, Story Artist, & Director for 'the Summoning'. Ms. Hiromu Arakawa Past Assistant,Manga Artist and for ‘Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan’ Creator of 'Fullmetal Alchemist','Hero Tales' and 'The Heroic Legend of Arslan'.

Ms.Lauren Faust Past Animator, Storyboard artist, Writer, Director & Supervising director “The Powerpuff Girls”. Developer of ‘My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic’ and ‘DC Super Hero Girls’ Co-producer, Story editor, Writer, Director & Character designer for ‘Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends’ and Wander Over Yonder.

Ms.Rumiko Takahashi Writer, Manga Illustrator and Creator of 'Inuyasha', 'Ranma ½', 'MAO', 'Rin-ne' and 'Urusei Yatsura'. Ms.Paru Itagaki Past editor for ‘Akita Shoten’ Writer, Manga Illustrator and Creator of ‘Beastars’.

Mrs.Daron Nefcy Past storyboard revisionist for ‘Wander Over Yonder’ and ‘Robot and Monster’. Creator, Writer, and Executive Producer of Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Ms.Noelle Stevenson Past Writer and Cover Artist for ‘Fangirl’, ‘Lumberjane’ and ‘Marvel Comics’. Developer, Show-runner and Producer ‘She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’. Author of ‘Nimona’.

Ms.Dana Terrace Past storyboard artist, animator, and director for ‘Gravity Falls’ and ‘DuckTale’. Creator of The Owl House

Miss.Katsura Hoshino Past Character Designer for ‘Valvrave the Liberator’ Manga Artist and Author for “D.Gray-man”

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sineala · 5 years ago

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Hey girl! Omgg! I need your help!! SOS! Ok, so someone told me that Peggy is back in Captain America’s comic. I’ve never liked Peggy & Steve and was relieved to know in the comics he is with Sharon but now they are pulling MCU crap. Do you mind explaining it to me Peggy’s and Steve’s in the comics? Also, why is Sharon old? Tnx! Xoxo

Okay, so, this is a bunch of different things and I will try to cover a lot of it.

So the thing you need to know about 616 is that Steve’s love life is very, very different from the MCU and it’s also very complicated, in the sense that various girlfriends got retconned into it over the years, in addition all the people he was actually dating in real time. Peggy was, essentially, the first of the retcons.

If you actually read the Golden Age Cap comics, to the best of my knowledge, the only woman Steve is ever shown expressing interest is a woman named Elizabeth “Betty/Betsy” Ross. Later Cap comics go on to retcon in other potential romantic interests, like a woman named Cynthia Glass who Steve knew before Rebirth and ends up being a Nazi spy, as well as Jacqueline Falsworth of the Invaders (who are of course themselves a later retcon). So if you want to go by all this canon, Steve had... a whole lot going on, really.

Peggy was retconned into Steve’s WWII love life in Tales of Suspense #75, the same comic that Sharon (and also incidentally Batroc the Leaper) was introduced in. Steve sees Sharon from afar and basically develops an instant crush on her because of how much she looks like Peggy, who at this point has never been mentioned before.

Yes, at this point in canon Sharon and Peggy are sisters; they had to revise this later so that Sharon was Peggy’s niece.

There was then a whole bunch of drama about who had feelings for whom but the upshot is that Steve and Peggy never actually were romantically involved in real-time (non-retconned) post-ice canon, as far as I am aware; Peggy was dating Gabe Jones at one point. Steve and Peggy stayed good friends, and she helped him out on his missions. She eventually died during Remender’s Cap run (I mean, she was old by then) and she’s back alive now and so far Marvel has not made it really clear why or how or anything. We don’t know much yet. Also she’s a brunette now. (Because before she looked... just like Sharon.) Steve doesn’t even know she’s alive yet!

Another thing I know I’ve mentioned before but like to mention whenever it comes up is that even though it feels like Steve/Sharon clearly must always have been the canon OTP, this was not always the case. Steve and Sharon dated until the late 70s, when Sharon “died,” and Steve went on to date other people for the next few decades, some of them very seriously -- he was engaged to Bernie, and then also dated Rachel, Connie, and Rebecca, and a couple other people whose names I am blanking on. Even after Sharon came back to life in the mid-90s they still didn’t get back together for a whole decade later, in the mid-2000s, when Brubaker started writing Cap. So, sure, they’ve known each other a long time but there were also about twenty-five entire years there when Steve was dating other people. It’s just that everyone writing Cap since Brubaker has also followed his lead and paired up Steve and Sharon again.

(Also, Sharon is old now because, basically, she was stranded in another dimension, Dimension Z, for many years. Steve had previously gotten himself stranded there and she rescued him but ended up getting stuck there in the course of rescuing him.)

#Anonymous #replies

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rebelsofshield · 5 years ago

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Panels Far, Far Away: A Week in Star Wars Comics (10/30/19 and 11/6/19)

Wow. It’s been a wild two weeks. Yes, two weeks. Life has been a thing and Panels Far, Far Away has fallen a tad behind as of late. So now, for your reading pleasure we have two solid weeks of Star Wars comics. So happy belated Halloween, say hi to your good Doctor, and prepare to rescue some Wookiees.

Star Wars Adventures #27 written by John Barber and Michael Moreci and art by Derek Charm and Tony Fleecs

It’s not just Marvel that has joined the journey to The Rise of Skywalker. IDW Publishing is launching its own story of the struggle between the First Order and the galactic resistance these coming weeks. Whereas many other stories have concerned themselves with just how the Resistance restructures itself in the wake of the disastrous events of The Last Jedi, Adventures instead follows a lone Wookiee’s attempt to save his homeworld from tyrannical occupation. That’s right, it’s Chewbacca and a Porg vs the First Order.

Despite the prevalence of cute sidekicks and slapstick humor, there is a genuine sense of stakes and tension in John Barber’s Chewbacca tale. Sure he may be lugging around a pet Porg with him, but this is his home and Chewie could not be more invested in its safety. Derek Charm draws Chewie with an unexpected ferocity and determination and uses some of his trademark creative layouts to have our Wookiee hero springing across the page and breaking panels with strides and jumps. It makes for an investing little story that I can’t wait to dive further into.

This week’s back up story proves to be less impressive, but still entertaining. Our three droid heroes, C-3PO, R2-D2, and BB-8, find themselves alone on Garel having been overlooked once again by both the First Order and their friends on the Resistance. However, when a young orphan needs help, they decide to take matters into their own hands. There isn’t anything quite as engaging as the Chewbacca segment, but it’s nice to finally see our robotic friends taking matters into their own hands and proving their worth. Tony Fleec’s pencils can’t help but bring to mind the shortlived Droids animated series from the 80s, but it works well here and gives this new story a pseudo-retro vibe.

Score: B+

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #5 written by Cavan Scott and art by Francesco Francavilla and Charles Paul Wilson III

Yes, yes, I know. Halloween was over a week ago, so this, hopefully annual, celebration of all things creepy in Star Wars is a little delayed. Luckily, this final issue of Return to Vader’s Castle proves to be the strongest of the bunch, even if it comes nowhere close to reliving the heights of its predecessor.

The biggest struggle with this year’s Vader’s Castle series has been the mismatch of artists with source material. While Cavan Scott took us to even more twisted and dark little Star Wars horror stories, the artists tasked with bringing these to life, while often talented, felt out of place with the decidedly more sinister narratives. While frame artist, Francesco Francavilla turned in impressive work on a regular basis, the tales themselves struggled. It is disappointing that Francavilla doesn’t get the opportunity to do a full issue on his own like Derek Charm did last year, but Charles Paul Wilson III lives up to the task and delivers the most visually cohesive installment of this miniseries.

While Colonel Hudd tries his best to escape from Mustafar with the help of an unexpected ally, his captor, Vanee, recounts a creepy rebellion at Vader’s Castle by the planet’s natives. Writer Charles Soule had hinted at the mystical relationship that the Mustafarans had with their planets lava in his Darth Vader ongoing and Cavan Scott dives further into that here. The result pits Darth Vader up against a local mystic and a horde of lava zombies. Yes, lava zombies, and yes, it is as cool as it sounds.

Charles Paul Wilson III crafts some delightfully creepy and bizarre character designs for the lava zombies and their Mustafar masters, and colorist David Garcia Cruz brings it to life with an effective mix of striking reds, purples, and oranges. The end result is the first installment of this miniseries that feels visually consistent throughout and lives up to its goals as an all ages horror book.

Score: B+

Star Wars Allegiance #4 written by Ethan Sacks and art by Luke Ross

The conspiracy on Mon Cala comes to light in the final issue of Star Wars Allegiance. Just who has been setting the citizens of the watery planet and the Resistance is revealed even as the First Order arrives in orbit. Also, Finn and Poe fight some bounty hunters.

Star Wars Allegiance is a very fine little comic. That’s it really. It’s fine. The strongest point of this comic since its start has been its story of a war-weary Princess Leia and her relationship with a planet she helped plunge into hardship almost forty years prior. It is a dramatic backdrop for a narrative and helps solve a logistical question for the Resistance as we head into December’s big final showdown. However, as an actual prequel to the final installment of this latest trilogy, the result feels decidedly lackluster. The central cast of new generation heroes are mostly given little of consequence to do and more often than not, particularly in the case of Rose and Rey, feel written out of character or reduced to their most basic form. The Finn and Poe section proves more fun than the material granted to our heroines but the end result still feels decidedly inconsequential.

Fans looking for a piece of connective tissue linking the time between the Battle of Crait and the start of The Rise of Skywalker are best served by checking out Rebecca Roanhorses’ novel Resistance Reborn, which covers similar ground as Allegiance but with greater depth and fidelity. As it stands, Allegiance is a fun appetizer for a larger meal. Decent art, decent story, decent characters.

Score: B-

Star Wars Doctor Aphra Annual #3 written by Simon Spurrier and art by Elsa Charretier

When they first appeared in last year’s Doctor Aphra annual comic, Nokk and Winloss, a bi-species monster hunting couple, quickly endeared themselves as two of Star Wars’ most creative and lovable additions in sometime. It is both a treat and a worry that the fate of these two seems so inextricably linked to galactic chaos ball, Doctor Chelli Aphra.

Writer Simon Spurrier and artist Elsa Charretier look to change that up here by giving Aphra her latest opportunity at redemption, and maybe a little revenge too. In a complicated scheme, Aphra uses her new found access to Imperial files to help Nokk track down a man who deeply wronged her and also give her husband and Wookiee bounty hunter, Black Krrsantan, some closure on the way.

Spurrier gets to play with his trademark layered storytelling even more than usual here. The added page length and relatively self-contained nature of this story allows him to play with perspective, plotting, and pacing to an even more controlled degree than usual and the result is a narrative that is filled with twists, turns, and betrayals. It may not be the most memorable tale that Spurrier has crafted on Aphra, and is nowhere near the delightful heights of last year’s annual, but the result is still a very solid and fulfilling little chapter that provides some closure to this comic’s supporting cast.

Elsa Charretier has been a regular feature of IDW’s Star Wars comics for some time, and it’s nice to finally see her make the jump to Marvel’s line of adventures. Her exaggerated and stylized characters work well for a tonally varied comic such as this and it’s nice to see the Star Wars line branching out a bit in visual representation. Colorists Edgar Delgado and Jim Campbell don’t always do the best at bringing her complicated pencils to life and the result sometimes feels too heavily inked, but the comic still maintains a unique visual aesthetic that succeeds more often than it stumbles.

Score: B+

Star Wars Doctor Aphra #38 written by Simon Spurrier and art by Caspar Wijngaard

Even with the announcement that renowned speculative fiction writer Alyssa Wong will be taking over Doctor Aphra early next year, there still hangs an air of finality around “A Rogue’s End.” Many of the major players among the last thirty eight issues of this series have come back to play and Aphra’s future feels more in flux than ever. With her wayward father now in the clutches of Darth Vader and her former droid sidekicks/torturers back in her orbit, Aphra has more to lose than any other point in her twisted history.

It’s the father daughter relationship between both Doctors Aphra that really takes up most of the meat of the story here and it helps the comic feel like it is approaching a full circle conclusion to the first issue penned by Kieron Gillen over three years go. Spurrier finds expansive creative real estate here, charting the reunion, frustration, and possible reconciliation of these two in the span of twenty some pages. It feels organic and emotional and ups the stakes considerably for the next two issues.

Spurrier also gets the chance to write Darth Vader more than he has in previous issues here. The result is pitch perfect and delightfully sinister and unstable in a way that feels right in line with some of the great comics for this character over the last four years, even if it ends up covering some familiar ground.

Caspar Wijngaard’s pencils are dependably striking here and helps the comic look better than it has in quite sometime. Colorist Lee Loughride feels more at home now than in last issue and characters and environments feel more lively and defined. Aphra herself still feels a little awkwardly rendered, but she is the exception, not the rule, to an otherwise visually impressive issue.

Score: A-

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hoeassproductions · 6 years ago

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Break A Leg: Chapter 9

Masterlist

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not own, possess, or have any links to Chris Evans, nor do I profit off of this work. Any claims otherwise are grossly misleading. This work is not to be posted anywhere else without my explicit permission. If you would like to be added to the tag list, reply here or send me an ask. I’d be happy to add you! Happy reading! Word Count: ~1,500

Fear as a Concept

“Y/N! Are you up yet?!”

Ugh god, please make that pounding stop!

I slip into consciousness just enough to realize there’s banging at the front door of my cabin.

“Y/N, get your butt up! We have 15 minutes to get over to the rec hall!”

“Chris? 15 minutes? Oh SHIT!”

I get up and run around frantically

I throw on the nearest pair of pants I can find and open the door while pulling on my shirt.

“Thank you for waking me. I clearly overslept and was not at all prepared. I need to eat and...and..”

I start rambling in my disheveled state of mind. .

Chris grabs me by the shoulders. “Y/N, take a minute. You have some time. Take these.” he says as he hands me a cup of coffee and a muffin he set on my railing.

Chris comes in and we sit at my kitchenette bar.

“Why are you constantly taking care of my messes? You keep helping em out of jams.”

“Y/N, why wouldn’t I? You’re always looking out for me. You take so much care and attention in making sure that I’m good and now I return the favor. That’s what relationships are. Mutually beneficial.”

“You’re right. And our benefits are pretty good” I say as I raise the last bite of the muffin before eating it and getting up to rinse my cup.

“We could have some other benefits…” Chris says under his breath as the water runs from rinsing my cup.

“What was that?’ I ask as I shut off the water and turn to face him.

Chris looks down at his watch. “I said ‘we should get going’”.

I put on my shoes and we leave for the rec hall.

“Today, you will be completing a team building exercise. Let’s break you up into teams of ten so we have five groups.”

Sandra divides our members into groups and assigns a captain to each group.

“Captains, each of you has been given a set of clues. It is your task to manage your team as they navigate the clues and complete every activity. First group to come back here with proof of all completed tasks will win an advantage later in the week. You have full reign of the grounds for the next three hours. Time starts now!”

My group huddles up, and Adam, our designated captain begins to rile our spirits. We have a pretty good team to work with. Eric is on my team, naturally, as well as Jack and Rebecca, an older couple who met at the company ten years ago. We have a few others stragglers I have yet to meet but everyone seems to be up to the task, and I know active participation will be half the battle.

“Okay guys, Let’s read our first clue and get a move on! Each clue leads us to an activity so we need to be fast and work as a team if we are going to finish.”

We all read over the clue and begin to walk outside. This one is fairly straightforward, so we move on quick, and the next couple clues follow suit. We find that our chemistry as a team is on point and we work effectively and well together. Spirits are high until about two hours later when we get stumped on the last clue with 30 minutes left to complete the challenge.

“Come on guys! We are so close to finishing!” Adam tries his best to be a good captain but everyone has run out of ideas and steam at this point. He reads the clue out loud once more, as if hoping some brilliant idea will come.

“Blue is fair as a lady lays

A lamb in a meadow with which she plays

Beyond the physical, this lesson leads

Realize your fears and follow your confident needs.”

While everyone is discussing, and brainstorming solutions, I begin to think.

“Hey Adam, was there anything in the rules that said we couldn’t get help with the clues” I ask.

“Well, no, but everyone her is competing.”

“Not everyone. I have an idea. Trust me.” I lead everyone to the office off of the rec hall.

“Y/N, what are we doing here?”

“Just hold on. Give me the clue and wait here.”

I go inside the office, looking for a familiar face, only to find no one is in there. Almost defeated, I hear a familiar voice from behind me.

“Now why are you here looking for him, when really, you want to see me, Darlin’?”

I turn around and see Jessie’s father leaning against the door jam. “Craig! How are you?” We wrap each other in a tight embrace

“I’m doing well. What can I do for you today?”

“We are working on a team activity. We got these clues but we’re falling short on the last one. Maybe you could offer some guidance?” I hand him the clue and he reads it over.

“The first part is easy. It’s referring to a stained glass window in the interfaith chapel in the silo. Afraid I can’t help more than that.”

“It’s alright. That helps tons! Thank you!” I give him a kiss on the check, go out to my team, and rush past them. “Come on! We don’t have much time!”

We race to the silo, and find the chapel. In the middle of the room, we find a stand with cards on top of it with instructions for everyone to bring a card with them back to the rec hall. We each grab one and head over there.

Three other groups are already there and we wait for the last one to show up. Upon talking to members who arrived before us, Chris’s group was the first to finish. I look around the room, and see him sitting in a chair focused on his phone. I decide to have a little fun with him.

I find a video of a military bugle reveille on my phone and I sneak up behind him. I get close enough to him, I blast the video from behind him, and watch the magic happen.

He leaps out of his chair, and almost falls to the ground looking around. Finding me to be the culprit, laughing at him from behind, he gathers himself as best he can.

“Damn it, Y/N! You scared the hell out of me!”

Trying to manage my hysterics, and failing, Chris begins to join in on the laughter. After a minute or so, we begin to take in the fact that everyone is staring at us and we find it in ourselves to get it together. I take the seat next to him, and I tell him it’s payback for laughing like an ass at my perfectly fine dance moves a week ago.

“I’d say we’re even, but I’m feeling like that requires some retaliation. It’s on now, Y/N. You better watch out. I will get you when you least expect it.”

“Nothing I can’t handle. Bring it Evans!”

At this point, the last group finally arrives with two minutes to spare.

“Glad to see everyone made it here on time and completed the challenge. The first group here was Chris’s team. They will have an advantage later in the week. By now, I’m sure you all have had an opportunity to read the card you were instructed to bring back here. If you have not, please take a couple moments to read it over.”

I turn the card over in my hand, and it reads:

“Believe in yourself. Have courage and conviction in all that you do. Add a little patience and strength will come to you.”

I think about the power behind these words and begin to wonder where Sandra is taking this.

“Some of you seem to be taking this in and others seem to be a little lost...” Amidst the murmurs and laughter, she continues. “All of these, while great qualities in any one person, are also exceptional qualities in a team. One thing that isn’t covered though, is something that we will no doubt fail without. That is trust. Trust in one another to perform our parts individually to insure that we are successful as a whole. Trust that every night we go out there, we align each moment flawlessly before the next.”

I look around the room and see many nods of agreement.

“We, in our company, require complete and total trust in one another. It’s the secret to success in our trade. Now, all of this is fine and dandy but the ugly side of trust is that it also requires us to let go of our fears. That is what we want this next activity to focus on.”

As I begin to feel the anxiety rise in me, I look over to Chris and see nothing but panic.

Oh Shit!

A/N: If I was in this predicament, I’d be terrified so I get it guys. This was a hasty upload so any feedback would be appreciated. This one was rough for me and feels a little disconnected. I’ll work on tightening it up. I had a different plan for what came next, but sometimes it just writes itself.

As always, let me know if you would like to be added to the taglist. Read on!

Tags: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @beccaheartschrisevans @avenger-nerd-mom @mycapt-ohcapt-writes @mad-for-marvel @vanillabeanlattes @captain-ariel-barnes @emilyevanston @thewife101cevans @loricameback @plussizeappreciationfics @a-tale-of-two-comics @melodramaticfanatic @writingcreatingstorytelling @kirstie-lotr @mywritingsblog @disney-fire-fox @harrinoodles @lookwhatyoumademequeue @janeyboo @aglarelen @purelyfictionallife @shallowshawn @cevansgirl @mrs-captain-evans @randomcevans @nomadicpixel @elivanah @katiew1973 @symonlyjen5 @tchitchou26 @mackevanstanfan80 @unicornpurplelife

#Chris Evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fanfic #rpf fic #Break A Leg #chapter 9 #My writing

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onceland · 7 years ago

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Once Upon a Time stars Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas talk the end of an era

Josh Dallas stands in front of a massive war room table, his Prince Charming rallying the troops in a last-ditch effort to prevent a great evil from stealing their happy endings. A combination of old guard and new from Once Upon a Time’s seven-season run sits before him.

“A new generation has joined the fight,” Dallas says in his most Charming tenor, nodding in the direction of Alice (Rose Reynolds), Robin (Tiera Skovbye), Henry (Andrew J. West), and Ella (Dania Ramirez). “Enemies have become friends,” he continues, looking to Regina (Lana Parrilla) and Zelena (Rebecca Mader). Charming concludes by addressing the presence of Wish Realm Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) as a new friend who feels like an old one. Once Upon a Time is days away from completing production on the final episode of the series, but everyone has gathered for his and real-life wife Ginnifer Goodwin’s final day on set.

The moment is charged as Charming reveals they’ve uncovered final villain Wish Realm Rumplestiltskin’s (Robert Carlyle) ultimate plan. Goodwin’s Snow White signals the Black Knights to bring in a stack of personalized storybooks — but so does Charming. They’re both trying to have their characters take the lead. When Dallas also does the signal during their third take of the scene, Goodwin can’t help but break character, ribbing her husband: “You can’t not do that, can you?” Mader cuts in with a laugh: “That’s called marriage.”

While OUAT has depicted Snow and Charming’s epic love story since the show’s launch in 2011, fans also got to watch their portrayers fall in love. The duo, who began dating while filming the show, got married in April 2014. They welcomed their first child a month later and their second in June 2016. Though Goodwin and Dallas left the show at the end of season 6, the two will return for the upcoming series finale, which airs over two weeks starting this Friday and concluding May 18. EW hit the set on the couple’s final day of filming to talk about the show’s legacy. [Editor’s note: The interviews took place separately, but were stitched together.]

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: As you head into your final day of production, how are you feeling right now? GINNIFER GOODWIN: Oh my gosh, I’m a mess. Leaving a show was a really tough decision, but one that we spent years making. … It involved a lot of discussing child rearing with our showrunners, because we really wanted to be spending more time with the kids. We really needed to start Ollie in school — we had gotten him into a school in Los Angeles. But anyways, we had decided that that was what was best for our family. Though a difficult decision, it was one that we were very confident about. We left celebrating. I realized in coming back and having had the show decide to tell its final story in this final episode, that I had always counted on this show as being here — I always counted on my being able to return, sort of like when we all go off to college, we know that home is still home. Now knowing that home is being obliterated, as it were, that the sets will be torn down, I’ve been really overly emotional. I have been crying for the past 24 hours. It doesn’t help that the scenes, of which we are part, are classic Once Upon a Time scenes. They’re inspiring. The word “hope” is batted around an awful lot, so it is very nostalgic feeling. I’m definitely mourning the loss. I wish that it could just go on forever and that we always knew that it would be here when we’re homesick.

JOSH DALLAS: It feels surreal to be back, but also wonderful. I’m so grateful that I was part of the fabric of Once Upon a Time, a show that seemed to touch a chord in so many people and had a fan base that is so passionate, so smart, so vocal, and so willing to go along on the ride with us. It will always be a great thrill in my life that I was part of Once Upon a Time, and I got to play this character, and hopefully show a different side of this character to people, and show you things that you didn’t know about him. And hopefully, the show inspired. It’s a show about hope and it’s a show about how it’s your actions that define who you are. You’re not either all good or all bad. It’s about your choices that make your character. Saying goodbye to it is bittersweet, but I’m so grateful.

Ginnifer, what does it mean to you to have had a strong female character like Snow White brought into a new era? GOODWIN: It’s amazing that, honestly, these guys wrote a truly female-driven show. I mean, they began years before we joined the fray in 2011. It was instrumental then in my choosing to take part. I was coming off of a female-heavy show [Big Love]. I was coming off of a show that was written in which the roles for women were very strong, but to come on to a show that was female-driven, and by the way written by men, was important to me. The way that women were depicted in this show, it was brave of the men to write them so bravely. It’s wild to me, also in the current climate, in talking about television, that it hasn’t been highlighted that Once Upon A Time has always done this. [Showrunners Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis] both come from very strong relationships with very strong women. Those have been definitely celebrated on screen in their writing.

Can you talk about the oddity of playing Jennifer Morrison’s mother for years when you’re basically the same age? GOODWIN: Yeah, I know. There’s always sort of this safety net of, “We are fairy-tale characters, and therefore we are ageless.” Colin’s character, Hook, is supposed to be — I don’t remember how old — hundreds of years? Rumple is hundreds and hundreds of years. In that way, in justifying it in character, it’s always sort of made sense that we could be so similar in look and in spirit. As an actor, we’ve only really felt old in realizing that this next generation that we’re representing today really did graduate from college like a minute ago, like they really could be our children. That’s what’s made us feel old.

And Josh, what has it meant to you to play Prince Charming? DALLAS: It’s meant everything to me. It changed my life as well as other people’s lives, our fans’ lives. It’s meant everything to me. It did change my life and helped create my family, my own family at home. Like I said, I’m just forever grateful to be part of it.

What do you think it was about Once Upon a Time that made it last this long? GOODWIN: The show is so optimistic, while being really realistic. These characters were all extraordinary, but we can see ourselves in them. I think that the part of us that wants to escape, can. We can disappear into their stories. I feel like everyone can find not just one, but probably several characters that they relate to, and whom they would want to be. But at the same time, these characters are really flawed and messy. I think that their feelings are so universal. Yeah, it’s that relatability. I love extraordinary stories that are full of really relatable characters. Who knew that fairy-tale characters could be relatable in any way?

What do you think Once Upon a Time’s legacy will be? DALLAS: I think it will be a show that preached hope. I think that’s the legacy.

GOODWIN: Oh my gosh. Well, I like to think that it was the first of its kind. At the time that we made the pilot, no one was doing anything like this. And I feel like it even pre-empted the swashbuckling princesses on the big screen. It was so new. And I hope that it’s remembered as being groundbreaking. And I hope, as we’re discussing, that it’s remembered as being representative of the strongest kinds of complex and beautiful women. And I hope that there is enough love for the show that we do reunion specials along the way.

What was the most poignant fan interaction you’ve had because of this show? DALLAS: There really has been so many. I’ve been so humbled and grateful that there have been so many. Many people coming up saying how Once got them through a rough time or how it inspired them to love better, to hate better, to do everything better, and to know that they’re not alone. I’ve heard that from several different people. Those are always memorable.

GOODWIN: I feel like, more than it being about anything that’s been said, having fans not just come to Comic-Con, but show up in Vancouver on location dressed as our characters, has been truly amazing to me. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the fact that people relate to it to that extent I find to be powerful. The show’s been fun, and it has been meaningful to me because of what I’ve gotten from the scripts, and also because of the relationships that I have formed on set. The fact is that my entire real life has blossomed because of this show. Early on, to see that the show meant that much, that people went to that extent in representing the characters, made me really take what we’re doing here more seriously. And then, I could not respect more that the creators also took that seriously and really have listened to the fans over the years, and really have written the show for the fans. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of something where there was that kind of focus. I mean, there’s always been a need, obviously, to draw in viewers. And I don’t mean monetarily, I mean just in general what we do, we want people to need us. We need to be needed. But to have a show that’s written on or of the public, I find to be really special.

Do you have any regrets about leaving the show when you did? DALLAS: No. None at all, none at all. It’s always worked out. It’s worked out the way that I hoped it would. I’m forever grateful for our time on it, and when we left, it was time. It was time for us to go.

How would you describe the finale and how it compares to past OUAT season enders? DALLAS: The series finale compared to all the other finales is special because it is the last one, and it’s emotional like true Once Upon a Time style, but it’s also satisfying because it again comes full circle and ties everything together. I think it will leave our viewers and our fans so happy that they invested their time and their hearts into watching our show.

GOODWIN: I will say that, for the Evil Queen, there is a definitive change in this episode in what she really reveals she has learned, what she has taken to heart. I find it to be so powerful that I cried. That’s part of why I cried all through yesterday.

What brings Snow and Charming back into the fold? DALLAS: They get a message that Henry is in a tight situation and needs some help, so they do what any great grandparents would do that know how to use a sword and a bow and arrow, and they come to help out. They come to help out and rally the troops.

GOODWIN: I will say that I don’t really know what they’ve been up to. I mean, they’ve been in retirement. I think there have been a lot of lazy Sundays. What we do see is longer Snow hair. We don’t really know what has happened to them, but we know that they have gotten the message that they are needed, and they have answered the call.

How do you feel about the ending for your characters and how it comes full circle to the beginning of the series? GOODWIN: The pitch for the whole show was, “What would a world look like in which the Evil Queen got her happy ending?” And we feel that we’ve finally figured out what that would look like. Josh and I talked in the few minutes we were still awake after yesterday, we talked and talked about what an honor it was to be part of her happy ending. It was beyond satisfying. It was emotional, it was thrilling. It was dreamy. It’s where we always hoped it would go, but it has taken the Evil Queen … like her journey has been so dramatic. That circle has been so dramatic and she’s gone so far, she’s grown so much, that to see the fruits of the writers’ labors was really satisfying. I can’t imagine the fans won’t gobble it up.

DALLAS: It was really emotional, actually. The story began with Snow and the Evil Queen and Charming. We’re ending it with Snow, the Evil Queen, and Charming. The idea that Regina gets her happy ending is really emotional, that it’s finally come full circle, [it shows that] you just gotta keep at it and you have to keep believing.

GOODWIN: I love that the ending is open-ended. I feel that even our coming back just exemplifies the fact that nothing is ever over. Despite my devastation that we are ending the show in general, I do feel like we’re leaving it in a way that we could do those specials we discussed, that we could come back in five years, in 10 years, and revisit this. I fantasize about a special miniseries we could do — streaming, I don’t know. I think the revisitation is appropriate. This is the epitome of a Once Upon a Time episode, this is an old-school, nostalgic Once Upon a Time episode.

Can you talk about the importance of sending a message that anyone can get a happy ending? DALLAS: I think it’s so important to send that message, particularly in this day and age when we have so much negative-seeming in the world, and to know that you do have a second chance, that you can have redemption, is super-powerful. I think if you go through life and you don’t believe you can do that, it’s pretty bleak. I feel like Once Upon a Time can shine a little bit of lightness in the dark.

GOODWIN: I just know it to be true. I am dead-certain that Snow White is right, that hope is the magical ingredient in the potion. That is, everyone can find love, everyone can find happiness. Dreams are achievable. And the hope speech in the pilot, Mary Margaret’s hope speech, was what sealed the deal for me in the first place.

What are you doing to take away from this experience? DALLAS: Total gratitude.

Do you have a different affinity for fairy-tale characters after your experiences on OUAT? GOODWIN: My fairy-tale affinity/Disneyphilia is probably a bit stronger. It was part of the appeal in the first place because I love that whole world, these whole worlds. But yeah, I would say that it definitely hasn’t burned me out, it’s definitely fed the addiction.

If you could open up a new chapter of Once Upon a Time 10 years later, what would you want it to be about? GOODWIN: Yes! Well, we’ve been joking about the line Charming has today about the new generation that’s joined the fray, and we do have an opportunity, because of our agelessness — though it has made us feel very old today, that line. I’d like to think that we would be able to because all of the realms represent generation after generation after generation of magically infused beings. Yeah, just keep introducing more. I mean, I would love to have Snow White come back and fight alongside her great-great-granddaughter.

DALLAS: I hope there’s more adventures. I hope there’s just more adventures and these characters still keep trying to figure life out. I think that never ends for anybody, not just these characters, just anybody. You’re always trying to figure it out. I hope they still are pushing forward and they’re still growing and they’re still going on adventures.

You both have pilots in contention for the fall — Josh on NBC’s Manifest and Ginnifer on ABC’s Steps. GOODWIN: Yes, I cannot leave the Disney company, obviously. I did a play after we wrapped last year, after Once Upon a Time wrapped. And then my husband and I both took the fall off, and the winter, and we both just shot pilots, and mine is again with ABC. This one shoots in Los Angeles, which was the vital thing for us as a family in terms of keeping our kids in school, and why we left the show last year in the first place. So yes, ABC found for me yet again a magical life on another ABC show.

Once Upon a Time’s series finale will air over two weeks, kicking off this Friday at 8 p.m. ET and concluding Friday, May 18, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

#ouat #ouat spoilers #7x22 spoilers #ginnifer goodwin #josh dallas #s7 spoilers

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 4 February 2019

Quick Bits:

Archie #702 sees Sandy Jarrell and Matt Herms pitch in for much of this issue as Betty and Veronica try to figure out who Archie’s seeing now. It goes about as well as you’d expect. Nick Spencer is still delivering some humorous dialogue and the opening sequence from Marguerite Sauvage is as beautiful as ever.

| Published by Archie Comics

Archie 1941 #5 is pretty heavy, dealing with the the grief, remorse, and emotional devastation of loss experienced during the war. Peter Krause and Kelly Fitzpatrick’s artwork has been wonderful throughout this entire series and they nail the conclusion.

| Published by Archie Comics

Avengers #14 sparks the fuse of the vampire civil war from Jason Aaron, David Marquez, Justin Ponsor, Erick Arciniega, and Cory Petit. There’s some really nice world-building going on here with the Legion of the Unliving and a rather interesting development with Ghost Rider.

| Published by Marvel

Batman #64 begins “The Price” crossover with The Flash from Joshua Williamson, Guillem March, Tomeu Morey, and Steve Wands. Outside of the tie-ins throughout the DC titles, I haven’t been reading Heroes in Crisis, but this ties in as well, spotlighting some of the strain that Batman and the Flash have been under. Something definitely feels off about the situation.

| Published by DC Comics

BPRD: The Devil You Know #13 feels like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic at this point, with all of the pieces moving into place, and we’re just awaiting the inevitable end of everything. Stunning artwork from Laurence Campbell and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Dark Horse

Champions #2 fills in the hole of what happened during the battle with Zzzax last issue and, boy, is it a doozy. Jim Zub, Steven Cummings, Marcio Menyz, and Clayton Cowles set up something interesting, and possibly horrifying, to come down the line.

| Published by Marvel

Conan the Barbarian #3 maintains its high bar of excellence as the one-off stories building up Conan’s past continue from Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham. The art from Asrar and Wilson is just perfect.

| Published by Marvel

The Curse of Brimstone #11 is the beginning of the end in the first of this two-part finale for the series from Justin Jordan, Denys Cowan, John Stanisci, Rain Beredo, and Wes Abbott. It’s great to see Cowan’s art here as he, Stanisci, and Beredo make the beginning of this final fight look absolutely gorgeous.

| Published by DC Comics

Daredevil #1 is a very impressive debut from Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles. It picks up from Matt’s recovery in Man Without Fear and, well, things are messy, unfocused, and he’s having a hell of a time getting his feet under him again. But, beyond that, there’s a real depth to the story here. Though there’s a ton of action, it also goes deep into character building and flashbacks of Matt’s time as a kid getting morality lessons from his priest. This is damn good, taking cues from Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s “Born Again”, but it also feels influenced by Mike Grell’s “The Longbow Hunters”. There’s also a back-up written and illustrated by Zdarsky himself with an interpretation of how Daredevil “sees” and the digital edition gives a smattering of back-up material including covers, art comparisons, and sketches. I highly recommend this.

| Published by Marvel

Deathstroke #40 concludes the “Arkham” arc with Slade killing Hugo Strange and then slaughtering a bunch of homeless men. Maybe. Depends on which truth you believe. In doing so, Priest sets up the seeds for the upcoming crossover with Teen Titans.

| Published by DC Comics

Die #3 peels back another layer of the onion of this world as Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles give us a story of how the various regions work. All through an allegory of war between Eternal Prussia and Little England, Tolkien re-adapted to a kind of explanation on his own allegory. It’s interesting, especially when coupled with the essay Gillen pens in the back that explains the whole construct. That said, it also works great as just an extremely pretty adventure where a party of adventurers fights a dragon. I’m loving what this series is doing.

| Published by Image

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #4 concludes the opening arc with the Hoarder from Jody Houser, Rachael Stott, Erica Eren Angiolini, Viviana Spinelli, Richard Starkings, Sarah Jacobs, and John Roshell. I still love the inventiveness and ornate quality to the Hoarder’s design.

| Published by Titan

The Empty Man #4 gives a bit more insight into the disease ravaging the planet, as more of the strange skittering monsters appear and the kids from the original mini-series return. Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, Niko Guardia, and Ed Dukeshire are crafting something very dark and weird with this series, but also very, very good.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Female Furies #1 isn’t a bad start from Cecil Castellucci, Adrian Melo, Hi-Fi, and Carlos M. Mangual. I quite like Melo’s art here, as she’s adapted it somewhat to highlight influences from some Fourth World luminaries like Jack Kirby, Keith Giffen, and Walt Simonson.

| Published by DC Comics

The Freeze #3 delves deeper into the early days after the Freeze as the awakened look into the serial killings, and we get more mysteries in missing people (who may or may not be the same as those murdered) and the revelation that Ray is being manipulated. Really great work here from Dan Wickline, Phillip Sevy, and Troy Peteri.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

GI Joe: Sierra Muerte #1 sees Michael Fiffe bring his kind of retro charm to the Joes in the beginning of this series. It’s actually played pretty straight and reminds me of the loving care that Tom Scioli also takes to these properties. Great art and a story that reminds me of the original GI Joe cartoon.

| Published by IDW

Giant Days #47 intertwines Daisy learning to drive, McGraw’s brother dropping in on him and Susan, and Esther taking care of an illicit adorable puppy. All the usual humour and character building you’d expect from John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

The Girl in the Bay #1 is an intriguing debut from JM DeMatteis, Corin Howell, James Devlin, and Clem Robins. It jumps headlong in to some of DeMatteis’ favourite themes and topics as spiritualism, reincarnation, and coming of age (particularly in Brooklyn) and presents a compelling world and mystery for the seemingly dead, then strangely awakened fifty years later Karen Sartori. Very nice artwork from Howell and Devlin.

| Published by DC Comics / Berger Books

The Green Lantern #4 may yet be the most beautiful issue to date, with Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff elevating the impossibly high bar of their artwork to an even greater level. The character designs, page layouts, panel transitions, and sheer storytelling in the artwork is incredible.

| Published by DC Comics

Gunhawks #1 is another of the revived title one-shots in celebration of Marvel’s 80th anniversary, this one a western from David & Maria Lapham, Luca Pizarri, Neeraj Menon, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham. It’s gritty, bloody, and the art from Pizarri, Menon, and Rosenberg is very impressive.

| Published by Marvel

Immortal Hulk #13 concludes the descent into Hell in an issue that is probably as epic as the Avengers beatdown from #7. Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Rafael Fonteriz, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit continue to deliver one of the best series on the stands today.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League #17 follows on from the annual and the revelations in the “Escape from Hawkworld” arc in this single issue story of Martian Manhunter’s past from Scott Snyder, Jim Cheung, Mark Morales, Walden Wong, Tomeu Morey, and Tom Napolitano. Some fascinating developments in J’onn’s history here, with gorgeous artwork, and the funny truth that Batman’s really a concerned bat-dad.

| Published by DC Comics

Killmonger #4 wages a pitched battle with Die #3 and The Green Lantern #4 for most beautiful art in a comic this week. Juan Ferreyra’s work is stunning, giving the book depth, character, and an immense re-readability just to stare at the imagery again. There is a wonderful sequence of blood pooling up the page as the violence and body count increases and the design for the cat goddess is gorgeous. As to that latter, Egypt isn’t for want of multiple cat deities and, though Sekhmet is probably the easy answer, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the older and somewhat lesser known Mafdet. Bryan Hill, Ferreyra, and Joe Sabino continue to deliver one hell of a solid story with this series.

| Published by Marvel

Oberon #1 is off to a fantastic start with this tale from Ryan Parrott, Miloš Slavković, and Charles Pritchett. It strikes a nice balance between fantasy and the mundane as Bonnie finds out she, and the world, aren’t exactly what she thought. Gorgeous artwork from Slavković.

| Published by AfterShock

Old Man Quill #1 kicks off a Guardians tale set in the “Old Man” universe from Ethan Sacks, Robert Gill, Andres Mossa, and Joe Caramagna. I liked the recently concluded Sacks-penned Old Man Hawkeye series as well and Star-Lord appears to be taking on that same kind of beaten-down sardonicism of Clint.

| Published by Marvel

Prodigy #3 sees Crane and Agent Straks racing across the globe to find out information on the cult aiding the alternate dimension insurgents. The artwork from Rafael Albuquerque and Marcelo Maiolo continues to be the main attraction, delivering some amazing action sequences.

| Published by Image

Self/Made #3 gives us another twist as Rebecca and Amala attempt to take down Bryce for control of Amala’s code. This story continues to evolve in some very interesting ways, while including some of the toxicity inherent in some game development studios, with some beautiful artwork from Eduardo Ferigato and Marcelo Costa.

| Published by Image

Shadow Roads #6 returns with Brian Hurtt stepping in for the line art and it’s great to see him back illustrating within the Sixth Gun world. Really nice, weird designs for the Bone Plains and interesting hints as to what’s next for the new/old threats seeping back into the world.

| Published by Oni Press

Star Wars: Age of Republic - Anakin Skywalker #1 spotlights a moral quandary for Anakin from Jody Houser, Cory Smith, Wilton Santos, Walden Wong, Java Tartaglia, and Travis Lanham. It’s still interesting to see Anakin as “General Skywalker” during the Clone Wars and how different he was from what he’d become.

| Published by Marvel

These Savage Shores #3 is almost a perfect comic, actually it may well be a perfect comic. The craft and care that goes into creating this work is astounding. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar are elevating the art form each issue. With the compelling intertwining of history and horror. With the epistolary narrative approach perfectly befitting the vampire sub-genre. With the attention to detail in how dialogue and narration are presented visually. With the variations on the 9-panel grid to guide pacing and keep the reader visually interested. With the consideration of the colour washes and tones to amplify the mood and atmosphere of the tale. This series is incredible.

| Published by Vault

United States vs. Murder Inc. #6 is kind of a weird conclusion to this series as the larger plot of the predicament the families currently find themselves in is left to the next series and, like last issue, we instead get more of Valentine’s family history. Great art, though, from Michael Avon Oeming and Taki Soma. The art really reminds me of some of Darwyn Cooke’s in his Parker adaptations.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Vindication #1 is an interesting crime drama from MD Marie, Carlos Miko, Dema Jr., Thiago Goncalves, and Troy Peteri. I love the shades of grey and uncertainty in motivation and truth in this story.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Wasted Space #6 returns with all the humour, violence, and madness that Michael Moreci, Hayden Sherman, Jason Wordie, and Jim Campbell brought to the first arc. I love Sherman’s designs for the gods, they remind me a lot of Ted McKeever’s work.

| Published by Vault

The Wrong Earth #6 ends season one of the series with Dragonfly and Dragonflyman adapting somewhat each to their new Earths, showing a bit of equivocation of the characters as the environment changes them. This has been an interesting story from Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Andy Troy, and Rob Steen and there’s ample threads to bring me back when the series resumes.

| Published by Ahoy

Young Justice #2 continues the adventure in Gemworld in the present, while we get a focus on Wonder Girl in the past. There’s something weird going on here with time and continuity that still feels like a story beat more than Brian Michael Bendis just playing fast and loose with what he wants. Great art from Patrick Gleason, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, and Alejandro Sanchez.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Asgardians of the Galaxy #6, Atomic Robo & The Dawn of a New Era #2, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command #1, Black AF: Devil’s Dye #2, Cemetery Beach #6, Curse Words #20, The Dreaming #6, Feathers, Gasolina #15, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #259, LaGuardia #3, Marvel Action: Avengers #2, Noble #15, Project Superpowers #6, Red Sonja #1, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5, Star Wars #61, Tony Stark: Iron Man #8, The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #5, Unnatural #7, Vampirella/Reanimator #2

Recommended Collections: Betrothed - Volume 1: Love or Die, Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack - Volume 3, BPRD: The Devil You Know - Volume 2: Pandemonium, Ether - Volume 2: Copper Golems, Lowlifes, Noble - Volume 3: No One Man, Optimus Prime - Volume 5, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road

d. emerson eddy sometimes feels like his old bones should light out for the wastelands.

#This Week in Comics

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everything-person · 6 years ago

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Taken

So here it is. The next chapter. This story will never be abandoned. I'm going to try to get at least one chapter out a month. This chapter has gone through a lot of edits. So hoping it came out good.

Masterlist

Chapter 7

Killian, Emma, and David walked back into the station, to find the girl pacing back and forth in the cell like a crazed animal.

“Ah! Storybrooke’s Avengers have returned! I need to report a theft.” She threw herself against the bars, she seemed almost in a panic.

Emma reveals the items that had been weighing heavily in her hand and her heart. The girl shoulders dropped and she sighed with relief, even as her grip on the bars tightened. “Those are mine. Give them back.” She ground out through her teeth.

“I would like to remind you that as a prisoner you aren't one to make demands. Nor are you privileged to have these items.” Emma said authoritatively. Then after glancing at her husband, her voice grew soft. “But as my daughter, if you asked nicely, I might give you the drawing back.”

The girl froze in her place and soaked in the revelation. “So, you finally came around? You really do need evidence for absolutely everything, don’t you? You can’t even trust your own eyes.”

Emma tried not to flinch as she nonchalantly rebuffed, “Nothing wrong with double-checking your facts.”

She rolled her eyes and took a step away from the bars. “Well now that you did your homework, let's get this started.”

“Get what started?”

“One of these is unlike the others but it was also the only one that was seen. Find it, then find its reflection,” she replied and with that turned her back on the group and plopped down on the cold floor.

“A riddle? Seriously?” Emma deadpanned. The girl shrugged in response.

“Why won’t you just talk to us?” asked Killian, a hint of desperation in his voice.

“The best lesson is the one earned not taught.”

David placed on a hand on his son-in-law’s shoulder. With a sigh Killian asked, “What about your name? Can you tell us your name?”

She said nothing for a while, but just as they turned to get back to work she spoke,

“I am the dreaded pirate Roberts.”

“Yeah, sure. And my name is Inigo Montoya. Watch out for rodents of unusual size, Buttercup.” said Emma. Leave it to my daughter to be a pop culture smartass, she thought.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Regina's mansion

The parlor door cracked open. The spy scanned the room that held his mom, his aunt, Robin, and his grandmother. They were all watching the scene in the station play out on a mirror.

He held back his laughter when the references started flying. She definitely knows her stuff, he thought to himself. The mirror showed the sheriff and her backup leave the girl alone in her cell again. Just because she’s in a cell doesn’t mean she should be alone.

“What the hell was that?!?!” Zelena shouted.

“It’s a clue,” Snow replied.

“I don’t want a bloody clue! I want--I need my daughter back! I’m going down there and getting some answers. A little fireball should do the trick.” Zelena said as she turned towards the door. Henry quickly hid. Before Zelena could storm out of the room, however, she was stopped by her sister. Regina waved her hand and Zelena’s feet were stuck to the floor.

“No, you are not. I told you you were only allowed to be here, to be involved, if you promised to behave. Now, behave.” Regina waved her hand again and released Zelena. “Besides if the Dark One couldn’t scare her you won’t either.”

As the adults continued to argue, the parlor door silently closed. Quiet feet ran up the stairs. Operation Princess Bride was about to begin.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Footsteps echoed through the empty station.

“I must be the luckiest prisoner in all of Maine. Getting so many surprise visitors, and by none other than Storybrooke’s most famous. First the Dark One, and now the Author.” She leaned further back against the furthest wall from the cell bars. “Let me guess you want to add my story to the book?”

“No. I just figured you might be bored,” Henry lowered himself to the ground and began rummaging through his bag, “so, I brought you some stuff.”

Her curiosity got the better of her as she moved closer to the bars. He pulled out some comic books, a hand-held video game, and a portable DVD player. “I figured you might want some entertainment,” he said holding up the handheld video game. “But I wasn't sure what you liked. So, I went with some of the classics.” Showing off the DVD’s he brought with him.

“I prefer D.C. over Marvel--”

“Lucky for you I have a couple of Justice League comics right here.”

“And Star Wars isn't a classic.”

“What are you talking about? Star Wars is so a classic. Where would Sci-Fi be without Star Wars?”

“In a much better place. Sci-Fi started with Frankenstein, with actual science. Now it's all about outer space and aliens.” She scoffed, but Henry still caught a smile creep to the girls face and counted it as a victory.

“You're such a Leia,” he said exasperatedly. He heard a faint “more like Anakin” and filed it away for later but did not respond to it.

“Oh, I also brought you some snacks,” he said, holding up a couple Apollo bars, “and an offer to sneak you all the hot chocolate with cinnamon you want.”

“I don't care for chocolate.” At Henry’s shocked face, she burst out laughing.

“Are you sure we’re related?” Henry asked teasingly, recovering from his shock.

As her giggles faded away, she asked, “What are you doing here Henry?”

Henry shrugged. “Like I said thought you would be bored. ” he continued after noticing her unconvinced look, “And I thought maybe we could talk.” He looked at his sister. His sister. He still hadn’t processed it completely. He was a big brother. He had a little sister. Of course he had Roland and Rebecca, and he loved them like siblings, but it wasn't the same.

“Talk about… what?” she asked cautiously.

“We can talk about anything. We could talk about movies or books. We can talk about people around Storybrooke,” he offered. Then hesitantly added, “about mom, about our family?”

“Or we could talk about why I'm here. What happened, why I decided to come back. That's what you want to know right? My motives?” She took a step back and scowled.

“Look, we can talk about anything you want. I'm your big brother. You can tell me anything.”

“Oh, is that it? Operation Big Brother, huh? You're my big brother. So, now I'm suppose to spill my guts to you. We have a bonding moment. You convince me that I'm wrong and I deliver the kids to you, huh? You're a town hero and they don't have to worry about the kids or about me, right? That’s why you came here! Why you are giving me this shit trying to butter me up?!”

“No--,” he tried to speak, but she was lost to him.

“Hate to push you off of your ‘big brother’ high-horse. But we don't know you. You're not our big brother. You left and never came back. Being the hero of your own story was more important to you than your family!”

“That's not true. It can’t be...I wouldn’t…I couldn’t...”

“Don’t believe me? Look at the picture again. He barely knows who you are! He doesn’t care about you!” She started shouting, “All he cares about are his mama, his papa, and his great big sister,” she paused a moment to breathe.

Her eyes shined with angry tears and her chest heaved. “You weren’t there, you never were! So stop trying!” Henry looked stricken, but his mind focused on one word.

“He?” he whispered. Then, he remembered the drawing... and the little boy.

Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d given away.

“Get out.” she demanded. She backed away from Henry.

“You...you didn't draw that picture. Our little brother did.”

“Why don't you go report that big bro?” She snapped, as she turned away from him.

Henry paused for a moment before asking, “What happened to him?”

She stiffened. Henry waited a moment before realizing that he’d pushed too far. With a sigh, he pushed off the ground and said, “I really did bring these so you wouldn't get bored. I’ll be back later.” He waited a moment for something, anything from her. “Bye Anny.”

Henry left with his eyes downcast and shoulders slumped. She glanced over her shoulder and watched him leave. Both too trapped in their own heads to notice the shadow in the corner that was watching them.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Regina’s mansion

“So,” Zelena started “does anyone know what we are actually looking for?”

“Something that seems to stand out.” Regina answered her sister.

“It has to be Hansel.”

“Nicholas.” Emma corrected without looking up from the papers in front of her.

“Whatever.”

“We really need to figure out if everyone goes by their curse names or Enchanted Forest names,” said Snow.

“Almost everyone in Storybrooke is registered as their curse name so let's go with that. Those that don't have curse names will be called by their fairy-tale names.” Emma kept looking through papers as she followed the conversation.

“Can we get back to this stupid riddle?” Zelena snapped.

“It has to be Nicholas he was the only abduction that had a witness. The only one that was ‘seen’.”

“That would mean that all the other kids were seen being taken. That everyone is lying and watched her take these kids. That Henry is lying and saw Roland-”

“Wait...Roland!”, Emma finally looked up, her eyes wide and mouth agape. “It has to be Roland!” When no one seemed to get it she continued. “She also mentioned ‘reflection’. You see your reflection in the mirror."

“What?”

“Roland was taken in the middle of the day. Roland is also the only one with a parental figure attached to mirrors.”

“What the bloody hell are you going on about?”

“Regina, if you focus on Roland through your mirrors we might be able to find the kids.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Comics were clumsily strewn across the station’s floor. DVDs were thrown all around the room. The handheld was in pieces next to the wall. The cot and it’s bedding was flipped upside down and ripped apart. The abuser lay on all fours and panting. Voices and phantom noises ringing in her ears. Images flashed behind her eyelids. Her eyes burned with the tears that she held at bay. Her teeth were grinding into each other as she held back the frustrated screams that so desperately wanted to escape. The damn was about to break, the mask flaking off, the facade fading away. She was on the verge of letting it all out. Cracking her eyes open, trying in vain to catch her breath, preparing to let go. It was only when the fluorescent lights began flickering that she brought herself back from the edge of a breakdown.

Before she could lift herself off of the ground, a pair of sleek black oxfords appeared in front of her. She looked up to find a dark handsome man with a gleaming smile plastered on his face. She scrambled away from him while simultaneously trying to get to her feet. Though her movements were nervous, her eyes burned with fury.

“Such power in such a small, beautiful package.” His voice was like velvet she once wrapped herself in and longed for. Now, it only made her skin crawl.

Finally steady on her feet, she took a step back from the man before her.

“Why are you here? You’re not supposed to be here.”

He tilted his head. His eyes were full of curiosity and he seemed almost disappointed. “It seems that I’m at a disadvantage,” his disappointment faded away and he smirked, “but I have a feeling that the next we meet, the advantage will be mine.”

"What do you want?!” She demanded.

“I’ve just come to pay a visit to the newest resident in Storybrooke. Possibly make a deal?”

“Get out! You’re nothing more than a Dark One wannabe!”

The man pursed his lips. “I see a deal will not be made today. But we will make a deal that will benefit the both of us.”

The girl shook her head and snarled, “I will end you.”

“I’m sorry but that is not in your cards,” He chuckles. The lights flickered and she was once again left alone in her cell.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They all stood in front of Regina’s round, ornate mirror that once upon a time inhabited Sidney Glass. Regina raised her hand in front of the glass.

“Are we sure that this is what she meant? Mirrors didn’t work before and they might not work now,” said Zelena.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Regina said. Robin grabbed her hand and squeezed it in support. She closed her eyes and focused on the little boy she had come to care so much for. She thought of all the moments she shared with him and how she had come to think of him as her son. She poured her love and her magic into the mirror. Her fear of losing Roland and watching Robin lose the last remaining piece of his family made a tear roll down her cheek. Finally, the mirror shimmered and glowed. The looking glass rippled before landing on a scene of children running around and playing.

It’s them. It’s the kids.”

The mirror pivoted across the room and focused on Roland watching over a playpen that held three giggling infants.

“He’s okay,” whispered Regina. She squeezed Robin’s hand.

Emma smiled, “They all are.”

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jenroseyokel · 6 years ago

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Awesome of the Year 2018: The Books

Happy New Year! ‘Tis the season for year end lists left and right as we attempt to figure out the best of everything from 2018. And of course, as a fan of books, music, and movies, it’s only right to get in on the list-making. Over the next week or so, I’ll be sharing my 2018 favorite lists. First up: books! This year, I set my Goodreads reading challenge at 40 books, and actually passed it. I’ve been setting arbitrary book goals for years, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve succeeded since 2007. Probably because of all the graphic novels and comic trades I read this year WHICH TOTALLY COUNT BTW. Ahem. Anyway. This isn’t really a best of 2018 list so much as a Here’s a Bunch of Books I Really Liked in 2018 list, split up into categories. I hope you’ll find something interesting here, especially if you’re looking for ways to spend bookstore or Amazon gift cards you got for Christmas… ;)

Newish Books by Rad Christian Women:

Every Arbitrary Book Goal should have a small correlated goal attached. This year mine was to make sure I read at least 50% women authors… and there have been a lot of GREAT new books from women writers in the past few years. If the “Christian women” section of your local bookstore makes you cringe a little inside too, check out these three wonderful books, all released in the past couple years:

Courage, Dear Heart by Rebecca K. Reynolds (NavPress, 2018)

Anyone who has read Rebecca’s writing knows she needed to write a book. She has a sharp mind, a poet's soul, a scientist's eye, and the most beautiful, tender heart. Also, she's an incredible writer who loves her readers with a love that radiates off every page. Buy a copy for everyone you know.

Wearing God by Lauren F. Winner (HarperOne, 2017) Girl Meets God was a formative book in my early 20s, and I’ve always meant to read more from this author, but somehow haven't. I finally picked up this one and oh man, for a solid month afterward I couldn’t stop thinking about it. With the eye of a scholar and the heart of a poet, Winner draws on personal stories, deep Biblical study, and a love of language to explore lesser known metaphors for God. Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren (InterVarsity Press, 2016)

Several years ago, James K.A. Smith’s Desiring the Kingdom helped me see liturgy in a new way, as not just religious practice, but the embedded routines that shape us. In this book, Tish Warren brings that idea to life as she walks through an ordinary day explores the holiness in our most mundane moments of living. You may not look at brushing your teeth or losing your keys the same way again.

Good Stories

This year, fiction reading was… all over the place? I don’t know if I read much that was OMG amazing, but here are a few that were fun…

The Fairyland Series 2-5 by Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel & Friends, 2012-2015)

I am notoriously awful at finishing book series. I read the first Fairyland book maybe… two years ago? Yikes. Just finished the last one and wow, so fun. Colorful characters, a whimsical narrator, crazy locations, and a whole lot of heart make this Victorian fairytale meets contemporary fantasy a delight to read.

Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis (Harcourt, 1956)

Lewis’ contemporary retelling of the Cupid and Pschye myth through the eyes of Psyche’s jealous sister Orual. Second read for me, and even better this time around. Pretty sure this is Lewis’ storytelling at his best.

Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw (Orbit, 2017)

This was a year to embrace fun, nerdy reads. So there was the Star Trek spoof Redshirts (with a plot twist I totally saw coming... and I am not good at guessing plot twists) and my first trip into the Star Wars extended book universe (or whatever the heck they call it these days) and… this. A story about a doctor for the undead in London, trying to solve the mysteries surrounding a murderous cult and keep her monster friends safe. Not the greatest, but a fun Halloween read. I’ll get to the sequel eventually. (See also: bad at finishing book series.)

Poetry for Everyone

Another new reading practice this year: always keeping a poetry book on the bedside table. Poetry books are best for leisurely dipping in and out rather than reading cover to cover. If you think poetry is only for the ivory towers, give these writers a try and think again.

A Child's Year by Christopher Yokel (Independent, 2018)

Okay, I’m biased here, but hey! Chris quietly released a new poetry book into the world this fall, and I’m a big fan of Chris AND his poems. A Child’s Year is a season cycle, sort of like his last book A Year in Weetamoo Woods, but this time it’s anchored by a four part poem recalling the journey of seasons through childhood eyes. And according to our friend Kirsten’s 7-year-old son, he gets the experience right. ;)

The Jubilee by John Blase (Bright Coppers Press, 2017) For his 50th birthday, John Blase released his first poetry book, with a poem for every year of life. It’s rare for me to make it through an entire collection start to finish but these were just so good. There are poems about aging — the author’s and his parents’ — and poems that evoke wide spaces and natural wonder. There are psalms and parables, and meditations on dying and, yes, living. All of them finely tuned with wisdom, gentle grace, and a touch of humor in all the right places. How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson (Dial Books, 2014)

When I heard Marilyn Nelson read her poem “Thirteen-Year-Old American Negro Girl” on the On Being podcast, I was captivated. And when I found this lovely hardcover in a used bookstore back home in Florida, I knew I needed to read more. This is a memoir in poetry about growing up in a black military family during the American Civil Rights era, told with gentle lyricism, warmth, and humor. Plus, the book itself is lovely with whimsical illustrations and family photos.

Comics!

I’m always on a quest to get more comics in my life. Plus knocking out a whole series in a couple weeks is a solid way to pad out your Arbitrary Book Goal.

Amulet 1-7 by Kazu Kibuishi (Graphix, 2008-2016)

After their father’s tragic death, Emily and Navin move with their mom to a strange old house that belonged to their great-grandfather… and so the adventure begins. In this fantasy series, the two kids find themselves in an underground world of demons, robots, talking animals, and a dangerous and powerful Amulet. A captivating and beautifully illustrated fantasy tale. Ms. Marvel 1-5 by G. Willow Wilson (Marvel, 2014-2016)

Y’all, I super want to be a Marvel nerd. But alas, I can't keep up, so I get my sister to loan books to me. Ms. Marvel is my new fave. A Pakistani-American girl from Jersey City has the power to grow, shrink, and stretch her body at will. So she’s trying to fight crime, keep up at school, and well, stay out of trouble with her parents. So fun. (Dear Disney: I really want this kid to show up in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. before it gets canceled kthxbye.)

The Legend of Wonder Woman by Ranae De Liz and Ray Dillon (DC Comics, 2016)

Weren’t we all mildly obsessed with Wonder Woman after the 2017 film? Another one I borrowed from my sister. A solid take on Diana’s origin story that’s accessible for comic n00bs (ahem, like me) who can’t figure out where to begin with beautiful art and a lot of heart.

The Classic I Finally Read

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen I always try to tackle either a thick intimidating novel or an unread classic in the wintertime. This year, I worked on my Austen deficiency and discovered I relate a little too much to Elinor Dashwood.

What’s Next?

In the new year, I think my goal is less about numbers and more about reading widely. I liked the 50% women authors goal because it helped me actively choose to support women writers. This year, hoping to read more books by authors of color, explore some new ideas and genres, and hopefully do a better job reading deeply and taking notes. I’ve got my eye on Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge too, perhaps as a way to dig into new things I wouldn’t normally notice. And yeah... perhaps a monthly reading life update is a thing I can do here on the blog. :)

If you’re curious to see the full list of What I Read This Year and follow along with me in 2019, feel free to follow me on Goodreads!

What were some of your favorite reads in 2018? And what are your goals for the new year? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments!

#art #books #reading #awesome of the year #readers of tumblr #reading list #favorite books #best of 2018 #readers are leaders yo

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gp-synergism-blog · 7 years ago

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Gothic Film in the ‘40s: Doomed Romance and Murderous Melodrama

Posted by: Samm Deighan for Diabolique Magazine

Secret Beyond the Door (1947)

In many respects, the ‘40s were a strange time for horror films. With a few notable exceptions, like Le main du diable (1943) or Dead of Night (1945), the British and European nations avoided the genre thanks to the preoccupation of war. But that wasn’t the case with American cinema, which continued to churn out cheap, escapist fare in droves, ranging from comedies and musicals to horror films. In general though, genre efforts were comic or overtly campy; Universal, the country’s biggest producer of horror films, resorted primarily to sequels, remakes, and monster mash ups during the decade, or ludicrous low budget films centered on half-cocked mad scientists (roles often hoisted on a fading Bela Lugosi).

There are some exceptions: the emergence of grim-toned serial killer thrillers helmed by European emigres like Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Ulmer’s Bluebeard(1944), Siodmak’s The Spiral Staircase (1945), or John Brahm’s Hangover Square(1945); the series of expressionistic moody horror film produced by auteur Val Lewton, such as Cat People (1942) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943); and a handful of strange outliers like the eerie She-Wolf of London (1946) or the totally off-the-rails Peter Lorre vehicle, The Beast with Five Fingers (1946).

Thanks to the emergence of film noir and a new emphasis on psychological themes within suspense films, horror’s sibling — arguably even its precursor — the Gothic, was also a prominent cinematic force during the decade. One of the biggest producers of Gothic cinema came from the literary genre’s parent country, England. Initially this was a way to present some horror tropes and darker subject matter at a time when genre films were embargoed by a country at war, but Hollywood was undoubtedly attempting to compete with Britain’s strong trend of Gothic cinema: classic films like Thorold Dickinson’s original Gaslight (1940); a series of brooding Gothic romances starring a homicidal-looking James Mason, like The Night Has Eyes (1942), The Man in Grey(1943), The Seventh Veil (1945), and Fanny by Gaslight (1944); David Lean’s two best films and possibly the greatest Dickens adaptations ever made, Great Expectations(1946) and Oliver Twist (1948); and other excellent, yet forgotten literary adaptations like Uncle Silas (1947) and Queen of Spades (1949).

The American films, which not only responded to their British counterparts but helped shape the Gothic genre in their own right, tended towards three themes in particular (often combining them): doomed romance, dark family inheritances often connected to greed and madness, and the supernatural melodrama. Certainly, these film borrowed horror tropes, like the fear of the dark, nightmares, haunted houses, thick cobwebs, and fog-drenched cemeteries. The home was often set as the central location, a site of both domesticity and terror — speaking to the genre’s overall themes of social order, repressed sexuality, and death — and this location was of course of equal importance to horror films and the “woman’s film” of the ‘40s and ‘50s. Like the latter, these Gothic films often featured female protagonists and plots that revolved around a troubled romantic relationship or domestic turmoil.

Wuthering Heights (1939)

Two of the earliest examples, and certainly two films that kicked off the wave of Gothic romance films in America, are also two of the genre’s most enduring classics: William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights (1939) and Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940). Based on Emily Brontë’s novel of the same name (one of my favorites), Wyler and celebrated screenwriter Ben Hecht (with script input from director and writer John Huston) transformed Wuthering Heights from a tale of multigenerational doom and bitterness set on the unforgiving moors into a more streamlined romantic tragedy about the love affair between Cathy (Merle Oberon) and Heathcliffe (Laurence Olivier) that completely removes the conclusion that focuses on their children. In the film, the couple are effectively separated by social constraints, poverty, a harsh upbringing, and the fact that Cathy is forced to choose between her wild, adopted brother Heathcliffe and her debonair neighbor, Edgar Linton (David Niven).

Wuthering Heights is actually less Gothic than the films it inspired, primarily because of the fact that Hollywood neutered many of Brontë’s themes. In The History of British Literature on Film, 1895-2015, Greg Semenza and Bob Hasenfratz wrote, “Hecht and Wyler together manage to transfer the narrative from its original literary genre (Gothic romance) and embed it in a film genre (the Hollywood romance, which would evolve into the so-called ‘women’s films’ of the 1940s)… [To accomplish this,] Hecht and Wyler needed to remove or tone down elements of the macabre, the novel’s suggestions of necrophilia in chapter 29, and its portrayal of Heathcliffe as a kind of Miltonic Satan” (185).

This results in sort of watered down versions of Cathy — who is selfish and cruel as a general rule in the novel — and, in particular, Heathcliffe, whose brutish behavior includes physical violence, spousal abuse, and a drawn out, well-plotted revenge that becomes his sole reason for living. It is thus in a somewhat different — and arguably both more terrifying and more romantic — context that the novel’s Heathcliffe declares to a dying Cathy, “Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you–haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe–I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always–take any form–drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” (145).

Despite Hollywood’s intervention, the novel’s Gothic flavor was not scrubbed entirely and Wuthering Heights still includes themes of ghosts, haunting, and just the faintest touch of damnation, though it ends with a spectral reunion for Cathy and Heathcliffe, whose spirits set off together across the snow-covered moors. These elements of a studio meddling with a film’s source novel, doomed romance, and supernatural tones also appeared in the following year’s Rebecca, possibly the single most influential Gothic film from the period. This was actually Hitchcock’s first film on American shores after his emigration due to WWII, and his first major battle with a producer in the form of David O. Selznick.

Rebecca (1940)

Based on Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name, Rebecca marks the return of Laurence Olivier as brooding romantic hero Maxim de Winter, the love interest of an innocent young woman (Joan Fontaine) traveling through Europe as a paid companion. She and de Winter meet, fall in love, and are quickly married, though things take a dark turn when they move to his ancestral home in England, Manderlay, which is everywhere marked with the overwhelming presence of his former wife, Rebecca. The hostile housekeeper (Judith Anderson) is still obviously obsessed with her former mistress, Maxim begins to act strangely and has a few violent outbursts, and the new Mrs. de Winter begins to suspect that Rebecca’s death was the result of a homicidal act…

The wanton or mad wife was a feature not only of Rebecca, but of earlier Gothic fiction from Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre to “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In the same way that Cathy of Wuthering Heights is an example of the feminine resistance to a claustrophobic social structure, Rebecca is a similar figure, made monstrous by her refusal to conform. The dark secret that Maxim’s new wife learns is that Rebecca was privately promiscuous, agreeing only to appear to be the perfect wife in public after de Winter already married her. She pretends she is pregnant with another man’s child and tries to goad her husband into murdering her, seemingly out of sheer spite, but it is revealed that she was dying of cancer.

A surprisingly faithful adaptation of the novel, Rebecca presents the titular character’s death as a suicide, rather than a murder, thanks to the Production Code’s insistence that murderers had to be punished, contrary to the film’s apparent happy ending, and restricted the (now somewhat obvious) housekeeper’s lesbian infatuation for Rebecca. Despite these restrictions, Hitchcock managed to introduce some of the bold, controversial themes that would carry him through films like Marnie (1964). For Criterion, Robin Wood wrote, “it is in Rebecca that his unifying theme receives its first definitive statement: the masculinist drive to dominate, control, and (if necessary) punish women; the corresponding dread of powerful women, and especially of women who assert their sexual freedom, for what, above all, the male (in his position of dominant vulnerability, or vulnerable dominance) cannot tolerate is the sense that another male might be “better” than he was. Rebecca is killed because she defies the patriarchal order, the prohibition of infidelity.”

Wood also got to the crux of many of these early Gothic films (and the Romantic/romantic novels that inspired them) when he wrote, “The antagonism toward Maxim we feel today (in the aftermath of the Women’s Movement) is due at least in part to the casting of Olivier; without that antagonism something of the film’s continuing force and fascination would be weakened.” Heathcliffe and de Winter are similarly contradictory figures: romantic, but also repulsive, objects of love and fear in equal measures, they mirror the character type popularized in England by a young, brooding James Mason — an antagonistic, almost villainous (and sometimes actually so) male romantic lead — that would appear in a number of other titles throughout the decade.

Rebecca (1940)

In “‘At Last I Can Tell It to Someone!’: Feminine Point of View and Subjectivity in the Gothic Romance Film of the 1940s” for Cinema Journal, Diane Waldman wrote, “The plots of films like Rebecca, Suspicion, Gaslight, and their lesser-known counterparts like Undercurrent and Sleep My Love fall under the rubric of the Gothic designation: a young inexperienced woman meets a handsome older man to whom she is alternately attracted and repelled. After a whirlwind courtship (72 hours in Lang’s Secret Beyond the Door, two weeks is more typical), she marries him. After returning to the ancestral mansion of one of the pair, the heroine experiences a series of bizarre and uncanny incidents, open to ambiguous interpretation, revolving around the question of whether or not the Gothic male really loves her. She begins to suspect that he may be a murderer” (29-30).

As Waldman suggests, there are many films from the decade that fit into this type: notable examples include Hitchcock’s Suspicion (1941), where Joan Fontaine again stars as an innocent, wealthy young woman who marries an unscrupulous gambler (Cary Grant) who may be trying to kill her for her fortune; Robert Stevenson’s Jane Eyre (1943) yet again starred Fontaine as the innocent titular governess, who falls in love with her gloomy, yet charismatic employer, Mr. Rochester (Orson Welles); George Cukor’s remake of Gaslight (1944) starred Ingrid Bergman as a young singer driven slowly insane by her seemingly charming husband (Charles Boyer), who is only out to conceal a past crime; and so on.

Another interesting, somewhat unusual interpretations of this subgenre is Experiment Perilous (1944), helmed by a director also responsible for key film noir and horror titles such as Out of the Past, Cat People, and Curse of the Demon: Jacques Tourneur. Based on a novel by Margaret Carpenter and set in turn of the century New York, Experiment Perilous is a cross between Gothic melodrama and film noir and expands upon the loose plot of Gaslight, where a controlling husband (here played by Paul Lukas) is trying to drive his younger wife (the gorgeous Hedy Lamarr) insane. The film bucks the Gothic tradition of the ‘40s in the sense that the wife, Allida, is not the protagonist, but rather it is a psychiatrist, Dr. Bailey (George Brent). He encounters the couple because he befriended the husband’s sister (Olive Blakeney) on a train and when she passes away, he goes to pay his respects. While there, he he falls in love with Allida and refuses to believe her husband’s assertions that she is insane and must be kept prisoner in their home.

In some ways evocative of Hitchcock (a fateful train ride, a psychiatrist who falls in love with a patient and refuses to believe he or she is insane), Experiment Perilous is a neglected, curious film, and it’s interesting to imagine what it would have been if Cary Grant starred, as intended. It does mimic the elements of female paranoia found in films like Rebecca and Gaslight, in the sense that Allida believes she has a mysterious admirer and, as with the later Secret Beyond the Door, she’s tormented by the presence of a disturbed child; though Lamarr never plays to the level of hysteria usually found in this type of role and her performance is both understated and underrated.

Experiment Perilous (1944)

Tourneur was an expert at playing with moral ambiguities, a quality certainly expressed in Experiment Perilous, and the decision to follow the psychiatrist, rather than the wife, makes this a compelling mystery. Like Laura, The Woman in the Window, Vertigo, and other films, the mesmerizing portrait of a beautiful woman is responsible for the protagonist becoming morally compromised, and for most of the running time it’s not quite clear if Bailey is acting from a rational, medical premise, or a wholly irrational one motivated by sexual desire. Rife with strange diary entries, disturbing letters, stories of madness, death, and psychological decay, and a torrid family history are at the heart of the delightfully titled Experiment Perilous. Like many films in the genre, it concludes with a spectacular sequence where the house itself is in a state of chaos, the most striking symbol of which is a series of exploding fish tanks.

But arguably the most Gothic of all these films — and certainly my favorite — is Fritz Lang’s The Secret Beyond the Door (1947). On an adventure in Mexico, Celia (Joan Bennett), a young heiress, meets Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave), a dashing architect. They have a whirlwind romance before marrying, but on their honeymoon, Mark is frustrated by Celia’s locked bedroom door and takes off in the middle of the night, allegedly for business. Things worsen when they move to his mansion in New England, where she is horrified to learn that she is his second wife, his first died mysteriously, and he has a very strange family, including an odd secretary who covers her face with a scarf after it was disfigured in a fire; he also has serious financial problems. During a welcoming party, Mark shows their friends his hobby, personally designed rooms in the house that mimic the settings of famous murders. Repulsed, Celia also learns that there is one locked room that Mark keeps secret. As his behavior becomes increasingly cold and disturbed she comes to fear that he killed the first Mrs. Lamphere and is planning to kill her, too.

A blend of “Bluebeard,” Rebecca, and Jane Eyre, Secret Beyond the Door is quite an odd film. Though it relies on some frustrating Freudian plot devices and has a number of script issues, there is something truly magical and eerie about it and it deserves as far more elevated reputation. Though this falls in with the “woman’s films” popular at the time, Bennett’s Celia is far removed from the sort of innocent, earnest, and vulnerable characters played by Fontaine. Lang, and his one-time protege, screenwriter Silvia Richards, acknowledge that she has flaws of her own, as well as the strength, perseverance, and sheer sexual desire to pursue Mark, despite his potential psychosis.

This was Joan Bennett’s fourth film with Fritz Lang – after titles like Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945) — and it was to be her last with the director. While her earlier characters were prostitutes, gold diggers, or arch-manipulators, Celia is more complex; she is essentially a spoiled heiress and socialite bored with her life of pleasure and looking to settle down, but used to getting her own way and not conforming to the needs of any particular man. (Gloria Grahame would go on to play slightly similar characters for Lang in films like The Big Heat and Human Desire.) In one of Celia’s introductory scenes, she’s witness to a deadly knife fight in a Mexican market. Instead of running in terror, she is clearly invigorated, if not openly aroused by the scene, despite the fact that a stray knife lands mere inches from her.

Secret Beyond the Door (1947)

Like some of Lang’s other films with Bennett, much of this film is spent in or near beds and the bedroom. The hidden bedroom also provides a rich symbolic subtext, one tied in to Mark’s murder-themed rooms, the titular secret room (where his first wife died), and the burning of the house at the film’s conclusion. Due to the involvement of the Production Code, sex is only implied, but modern audiences may miss this. It is at least relatively clear that Mark and Celia’s powerful attraction is a blend of sex and violence, affection and neurosis. As with Rebecca and Jane Eyre, it is implied that the fire — the act of burning down the house and the memory of the former love (or in Jane Eyre’scase, the actual woman) — has cleansing properties that restore Mark to sanity. It is revealed that though he did not commit an actual murder, the guilt of his first wife’s death, brought on by a broken heart, has driven him to madness and obsession.

This really is a marvelous film, thanks Lang’s return to German expressionism blended with Gothic literary themes. There is some absolutely lovely cinematography from Stanley Cortez that prefigured his similar work on Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter. In particular, a woodland set – where Celia runs when she thinks Mark is going to murder her – is breathtaking, eerie, and nightmarish, and puts a marked emphasis on the fairy-tale influence. But the house is where the film really shines with lighting sources often reduced to candlelight, reflections in ornate mirrors, or the beam of a single flashlight. The camera absolutely worships Bennett, who is framed by long, dark hallways, foreboding corridors, and that staple of film noir, the winding staircase.

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